'■•Why,  ^v/uitevet-   is  the  rr.attc-  ■njoith 
youf^   she  demanded. 

Frontispiece,      See  page  2j8 . 


PETER  RUFF  AND  THE 
DOUBLE-FOUR 


BY 
E.   PHILLIPS   OPPENHEIM 

AUTHOR    OF    "HAVOC,"    "THE    IIXUSTRIOUS    PRINCE," 
"  A    PRINCE   OF   SINNERS,"   ETC. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

DALTON  STEVENS 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 

1912 

144629 


Copyright,  1912, 
By  Little,  Brown,  and  Companv. 


All  rights  reserved 
Published,  January,  1912 


THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS,    CAJIBRIDGE,    U.  S.  A. 


(D  ^c:  w. 


CONTENTS 


:^  BOOK  ONE 

Chapter  Page 

I    Introducing  Mr.  Peter  Ruff 1 

II    A  New  Career 17 

III   Vincent  Cawdor,  Commission  Agent     ...  40 

2        IV    The  Indiscretion  of  Letty  Shaw 61 

_        V    Delilah  from  Streatham .  84 

o      VI    The  Little  Lady  from  Servia 106 

*5^     VII    The  Demand  of  the  Double-Four     ....  121 

cy 

^'  VIII    Mrs.  Bognor's  Star  Boarder 137 

^      IX    The  Perfidy  of  Miss  Brown 154 

^       X   Wonderful  John  Dory 172 

5  BOOK  TWO 

I    Recalled  by  the  Double-Four 199 

II    Prince  Albert's  Card  Debts 210 

III    The  Ambassador's  Wife 220 

rV    The  Man  from  the  Old  Testament  ....  235 

V    The  First  Shot 258 


vi  CONTENTS 

Chapteb  Page 

VI  The  Seven  Suppers  of  Andrea  Korust     .    .  274 

VII  Major  Kosuth's  Mission 299 

VIII  The  Man  Behind  the  Curtain 322 

IX  The  Ghosts  of  Havana  Harbor 340 

X  The  Affair  of  an  Alien  Society 368 

XI  The  Thirteenth  Encounter 390 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"  Why,  whatever   is   the    matter   with   you  ?  " 

she  demanded Frontispiece 

The  door  was  no  sooner  closed  than  she  held 

out  her  hands      Page        9 

"  I  was  mistaken,"  he  admitted.     "  I  am   very 

sorry" "        113 

"  The  *  Double-Four,'  "  she  murmured "        168 

Before  he  could  tell  what  was  happening,  she  was 

on  her  knees  before  him "        233 

A  silence  followed  —  breathless  —  the  silence  be- 
fore the  bursting  of  the  storm "        293 

"  Dear  one,"  she  begged,  "  promise  that  you  will 

not  really  hurt  him " "        336 

"  Mind  the  broken  pavement,"  the  man  called 

out "        381 


PETER  RUFF 
AND  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR 

BOOK    ONE 
CHAPTER    I 

INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFP 

There  was  nothing  about  the  supper  party  on  that  par- 
ticular Sunday  evening  in  November  at  Daisy  Villa,  Green 
Street,  Streatham,  which  seemed  to  indicate  in  any  way 
that  one  of  the  most  interesting  careers  connected  with  the 
world  history  of  crime  was  to  oAve  its  very  existence  to  the 
disaster  which  befell  that  little  gathering.  The  \dlla  was 
the  residence  and  also  —  to  his  credit  —  the  unmortgaged 
property  of  Mr.  David  Barnes,  a  struggling  but  fairly 
prosperous  coal  merchant  of  excellent  character,  some 
means,  and  Methodist  proclivities.  His  habit  of  sitting 
without  his  coat  when  carving,  although  deprecated  by  his 
wife  and  daughter  on  account  of  the  genteel  aspirations  of 
the  latter,  was  a  not  unusual  one  in  the  neighborhood ;  and 
coupled  with  the  proximity  of  a  cold  joint  of  beef,  his  seat 
at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  a  carving  knife  and  fork 
grasped  in  his  hands,  established  clearly  the  fact  of  his 
position  in  the  household,  which  a  somewhat  weak  physiog- 
nomy might  otherwise  have  led  the  casual  observer  to  doubt. 
Opposite  him,  at  the  other  end  of  the  table,  sat  his  wife, 
Mrs.   Barnes,   a   somewhat   voluminous   lady   with   a   high 


2     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

color,  a  black  satin  frock,  and  many  ornaments.  On  her 
left  the  son  of  the  house,  eighteen  years  old,  of  moderate 
stature,  somewhat  pimply,  with  the  fashion  of  the  moment 
reflected  in  his  pink  tie  with  white  spots,  drawn  through  a 
gold  ring,  and  curving  outwards  to  seek  obscurity  under- 
neath a  dazzling  waistcoat.  A  white  tuberose  in  his  but- 
tonhole might  have  been  intended  as  a  sort  of  compliment 
to  the  occasion,  or  an  indication  of  his  intention  to  take  a 
walk  after  supper  in  the  fashionable  purlieus  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Facing  him  sat  his  sister  —  a  fluffy-haired,  blue- 
eyed  young  lady,  pretty  in  her  way,  but  chiefly  noticeable 
for  a  peculiar  sort  of  self-consciousness  blended  with  self- 
satisfaction,  and  possessed  only  at  a  certain  period  in  their 
lives  by  young  ladies  of  her  age.  It  was  almost  the  air  of 
the  cat  in  whose  interior  reposes  the  missing  canary,  ex- 
cept that  in  this  instance  the  canary  obviously  existed  in 
the  person  of  the  young  man  who  sat  at  her  side,  intro- 
duced formally  to  the  household  for  the  first  time.  That 
young  man's  name  was  —  at  the  moment  —  Mr.  Spencer 
Fitzgerald. 

It  seems  idle  to  attempt  any  description  of  a  person  who, 
in  the  past,  had  secured  a  certain  amount  of  fame  under  a 
varying  personality ;  and  who,  in  the  future,  was  to  become 
more  than  ever  notorious  under  a  far  less  aristocratic  pseu- 
donym than  that  by  which  he  was  at  present  known  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Daisy  Villa.  There  are  photographs  of  him 
in  New  York  and  Paris,  St.  Petersburg  and  Chicago, 
Vienna  and  Cape  Town,  but  there  are  no  two  pictures 
which  present  to  the  casual  observer  the  slightest  likeness 
to  one  another.  To  allude  to  him  by  the  name  under  which 
he  had  won  some  part,  at  least,  of  the  affections  of  Miss 
Maud  Barnes,  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald,  as  he  sat  there,  a 
suitor  on  probation  for  her  hand,  was  a  young  man  of 
modest  and  genteel  appearance.     He  wore  a  blue  serge 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFF  3 

suit- — a  little  underdressed  for  the  occasion,  perhaps;  but 
his  tie  and  collar  were  neat ;  his  gold-rimmed  spectacles  — 
if  a  little  disapproved  of  by  Maud  on  account  of  the  air  of 
steadiness  which  they  imparted  —  suggested  excellent  son- 
in-lawlike  qualities  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnes.  He  had  the 
promise  of  a  fair  mustache,  but  his  complexion  generally 
was  colorless.  His  features,  except  for  a  certain  regular- 
ity, were  undistinguished.  His  speech  was  modest  and  cor- 
rect. His  manner  varied  with  his  company.  To-night  it 
had  been  pronounced,  by  excellent  judges  —  genteel. 

The  conversation  consisted  —  naturally  enough,  under 
the  circumstances  —  of  a  course  of  subtle  and  judicious 
pumping,  tactfully  prompted,  for  the  most  part,  by  Mrs. 
Barnes.     Such,  for  instance,  as  the  following: 

"  Talking  about  Marie  Corelli's  new  book  reminds  me, 
Mr.  Fitzgerald  —  your  occupation  is  connected  with 
books,  is  it  not.^"  "  his  prospective  mother-in-law  inquired, 
artlessly. 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  bowed  assent. 

"  I  am  cashier  at  Howell  &  Wilson's  in  Cheapside,"  he 
said.  "  We  sell  a  great  many  books  there  —  as  many,  I 
should  think,  as  any  retail  establishment  in  London." 

"  Indeed !  "  Mrs.  Barnes  purred.  "  Very  interesting 
work,  I  am  sure.  So  nice  and  intellectual,  too ;  for,  of 
course,  you  must  be  looking  inside  them  sometimes." 

"  I  know  the  place  well,"  Mr.  Adolphus  Barnes,  Junior, 
announced  condescendingly,  —  "  pass  it  every  day  on  my 
way  to  lunch." 

"  So  much  nicer,"  Mrs.  Barnes  continued,  "  than  any  of 
the  ordinary  businesses  —  grocery  or  drapery,  or  any- 
thing of  that  sort." 

Miss  Maud  elevated  her  eyebrows  slightly.  Was  it  likely 
that  she  would  have  looked  with  eyes  of  favor  upon  a  young 
man  engaged  in  any  of  these  inferior  occupations  ? 


4     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  There  's  money  in  books,  too,"  Mr.  Barnes  declared, 
with  sudden  inspiration. 

His  prospective  son-in-law  turned  towards  him  deferen- 
tially. 

"  You  are  right,  sir,"  he  admitted.  "  There  is  money  in 
them.  There  's  money  for  those  who  write,  and  there  's 
money  for  those  who  sell.  My  occupation,"  he  continued, 
with  a  modest  little  cough,  "  brings  me  often  into  touch 
with  publishers,  travelers  and  clerks,  so  I  am,  as  it  were, 
behind  the  scenes  to  some  extent.  I  can  assure  you,"  he 
continued,  looking  from  Mr.  Barnes  to  his  wife,  and  finally 
transfixing  Mr.  Adolphus  —  "I  can  assure  you  that  the 
money  paid  by  some  firms  of  publishers  to  a  few  well-known 
authors  —  I  will  mention  no  names  —  as  advances  against 
royalties,  is  something  stupendous !  " 

"  Ah !  "  Mr.  Barnes  murmured,  solemnly  shaking  his 
head. 

"  Marie  Corelli,  I  expect,  and  that  Hall  Caine,"  re- 
marked young  Adolphus. 

"  Seems  easy  enough  to  write  a  book,  too,"  Mrs.  Barnes 
said.  "  Why,  I  declare  that  some  of  those  we  get  from  the 
library  —  we  subscribe  to  a  library,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  —  are 
just  as  simple  and  straightforward  that  a  child  might  have 
written  them.  No  plot  whatsoever,  no  murders  or  mys- 
teries or  anything  of  that  sort  —  just  stories  about  people 
like  ourselves.  I  don't  see  how  they  can  pay  people  for 
writing  stories  about  people  j  ust  like  those  one  meets  every 
day !  " 

"  I  always  say,"  Maud  intervenea,  "  that  Spencer  means 
to  write  a  book  some  day.  He  has  quite  the  literary  air, 
has  n't  he,  mother  .'^  " 

"  Indeed  he  has !  "  Mrs.  Barnes  declared,  with  an  appre- 
ciative glance  at  the  gold-rimmed  spectacles. 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  modestly  disclaimed  any  literary 
aspirations. 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFF  5 

"  The  thing  is  a  gift,  after  all,"  he  declared,  gen- 
erously. "  I  can  keep  accounts,  and  earn  a  fair  salary 
at  it,  but  if  I  attempted  fiction  I  should  soon  be  up 
a  tree." 

Mr.  Barnes  nodded  his  approval  of  such  sentiments. 

"  Every  one  to  his  trade,  I  say,"  he  remarked.  "  What 
sort  of  salaries  do  they  pay  now  in  the  book  trade.''  "  he 
asked  guilelessly. 

"  Very  fair,"  Mr.  Fitzgerald  admitted  candidly,  — 
"  very  fair  indeed." 

"  When  I  was  your  age,"  Mr.  Barnes  said  reflectively, 
"  I  was  getting  —  let  me  see  —  forty-two  shillings  a  week. 
Pretty  good  pay,  too,  for  those  days." 

Mr.  Fitzgerald  admitted  the  fact. 

"  Of  course,"  he  said  apologetically,  "  salaries  are  a  little 
higher  now  all  round.  Mr.  Howell  has  been  very  kind  to 
me,  —  in  fact  I  have  had  two  rises  this  year.  I  am  getting 
four  pounds  ten  now." 

"  Four  pounds  ten  per  week  ?  "  Mrs.  Barnes  exclaimed, 
laying  down  her  knife  and  fork. 

"  Certainly,"  Mr.  Fitzgerald  answered.  "  After  Christ- 
mas, I  have  some  reason  to  believe  that  it  may  be  five 
pounds." 

Mr.  Barnes  whistled  softly,  and  looked  at  the  young  man 
with  a  new  respect. 

"  I  told  you  that  —  Mr.  —  that  Spencer  was  doing 
pretty  well,  mother,"  Maud  simpered,  looking  down  at  her 
plate. 

"  Any  one  to  support  .f*  "  her  father  asked,  transferring 
a  pickle  from  the  fork  to  his  mouth. 

"  No  one,"  Mr.  Fitzgerald  answered.  "  In  fact  I  may 
say  that  I  have  some  small  expectations.  I  have  n't  done 
badly,  either,  out  of  the  few  investments  I  have  made  from 
time  to  time." 


6     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Saved  a  bit  of  money,  eh?  "  Mr.  Barnes  inquired 
genially. 

"  I  have  a  matter  of  four  hundred  pounds  put  by,"  Mr. 
Fitzgerald  admitted  modestly,  "  besides  a  few  sticks  of  fur- 
niture. I  never  cared  much  about  lodging-house  things, 
so  I  furnished  a  couple  of  rooms  myself  some  time  ago." 

Mrs.  Barnes  rose  slowly  to  her  feet. 

"  You  are  quite  sure  you  won't  have  a  small  piece  more 
of  beef?  "  she  inquired  anxiously. 

"  Just  a  morsel?  "  Mr.  Barnes  asked,  tapping  the  joint 
insinuatingly  with  his  carving-knife. 

"  No,  I  thank  you !  "  Mr.  Fitzgerald  declared  firmly. 
"  I  have  done  excellently." 

"  Then  if  you  will  put  the  joint  on  the  sideboard, 
Adolphus,"  Mrs.  Barnes  directed,  "  Maud  and  I  will  change 
the  plates.  We  always  let  the  girl  go  out  on  Sundays, 
Mr.  Fitzgerald,"  she  explained,  turning  to  their  guest. 
"  It 's  very  awkward,  of  course,  but  they  seem  to  expect  it." 

"  Quite  natural,  I  'm  sure,"  Mr.  Fitzgerald  mur- 
mured, watching  Maud's  light  movements  with  admiring 
eyes.  "  I  like  to  see  ladies  interested  in  domestic 
work." 

"  There  's  one  thing  I  will  say  for  Maud,"  her  proud 
mother  declared,  plumping  down  a  dish  of  jelly  upon  the 
table,  "  she  does  know  what 's  what  in  keeping  house,  and 
even  if  she  has  n't  to  scrape  and  save  as  I  did  when  David 
and  I  were  first  married,  economy  is  a  great  thing  when 
you  're  young.    I  have  always  said  so,  and  I  stick  to  it." 

"  Quite  right,  mother,"  Mr.  Barnes  declared. 

"  If  instead  of  sitting  there,"  Mrs.  Barnes  continued  in 
high  good-humor,  "  you  were  to  get  a  bottle  of  that  port 
wine  out  of  the  cellarette,  we  might  drink  Mr.  Fitzgerald's 
health,  being  as  it 's  his  first  visit." 

Mr.   Barnes   rose   to   his    feet  with  alacrity.      "  For   a 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER   RUFF  7 

woman  with  sound  ideas,"  he  declared,  "  commend  me  to 
your  mother !  " 

Maud,  having  finished  her  duties,  resumed  her  place  by 
the  side  of  the  guest  of  the  evening.  Their  hands  met  under 
the  tablecloth  for  a  moment.  To  the  girl,  the  pleasure  of 
such  a  proceeding  was  natural  enough,  but  Fitzgerald 
asked  himself  for  the  fiftieth  time  why  on  earth  he,  who, 
notwithstanding  his  present  modest  exterior,  was  a  young 
man  of  some  experience,  should  from  such  primitive  love- 
making  derive  a  rapture  which  nothing  else  in  life  afforded 
him.  He  was,  at  that  moment,  content  with  his  future,  — 
a  future  which  he  had  absolutely  and  finally  decided  upon. 
He  was  content  with  his  father-in-law  and  his  mother-in- 
law,  with  Daisy  Villa,  and  the  prospect  of  a  Daisy  Villa  for 
himself,  —  content,  even,  vvith  Adolphus !  But  for  Mr. 
Spencer  Fitzgerald,  these  things  were  not  to  be!  The 
awakening  was  even  then  at  hand. 

The  dining-room  of  Daisy  Villa  fronted  the  street,  and 
was  removed  from  it  only  a  few  feet.  Consequently,  the 
footsteps  of  passers-by  upon  the  flagged  pavement  were 
clearly  distinguishable.  It  was  just  at  the  moment  when 
Mrs.  Barnes  was  inserting  a  few  fresh  almonds  into  a  some- 
what precarious  tipsy  cake,  and  Mr.  Barnes  was  engaged 
with  the  decanting  of  the  port,  that  two  pairs  of  footsteps, 
considerably  heavier  than  those  of  the  ordinary  prome- 
nader,  paused  outside  and  finally  stopped.  The  gate 
creaked.     Mr.  Barnes  looked  up. 

"  Hullo !  "  he  exclaimed.     "  What 's  that  ?    Visitors  ?  " 

They  all  listened.  The  front-door  bell  rang.  Adolphus, 
in  response  to  a  gesture  from  his  mother,  rose  sulkily  to  his 
feet. 

"  Job  I  hate !  "  he  muttered  as  he  left  the  room. 

The  rest  of  the  family,  full  of  the  small  curiosity  of 
people  of  their  class,  were  intent  upon  listening  for  voices 


8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

outside.  The  demeanor  of  Mr,  Spencer  Fitzgerald,  there- 
fore, escaped  their  notice.  It  is  doubtful,  in  any  case, 
whether  their  perceptions  would  have  been  sufficiently  keen 
to  have  enabled  them  to  trace  the  workings  of  emotion  in  the 
countenance  of  a  person  so  magnificently  endowed  by  Prov- 
idence with  the  art  of  subterfuge.  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald 
seemed  simply  to  have  stiffened  into  acute  and  earnest 
attention.  It  was  only  for  a  moment  that  he  hesitated. 
His  unfailing  inspiration  told  him  the  truth ! 

His  course  of  action  was  simple,  —  he  rose  to  his  feet 
and  strolled  to  the  window. 

"  Some  people  who  have  lost  their  way  in  the  fog,  per- 
haps," he  remarked.     "  What  a  night !  " 

He  laid  his  hand  upon  the  sash  —  simultaneously  there 
was  a  rush  of  cold  air  into  the  room,  a  half-angry,  half- 
frightened  exclamation  from  Adolphus  in  the  passage,  a 
scream  from  Miss  Maud  —  and  no  Mr.  Spencer  Fitz- 
gerald! No  one  had  time  to  be  more  than  blankly  aston- 
ished. The  door  was  opened,  and  a  police  inspector,  in  very 
nice  dark  braided  uniform  and  a  peaked  cap,  stood  in  the 
doorway. 

Mr.  Barnes  dropped  the  port,  and  Mrs.  Barnes,  emulat- 
ing her  daughter's  example,  screamed.  The  inspector,  as 
though  conscious  of  the  draught,  moved  rapidly  toward 
the  window. 

"  You  had  a  visitor  here,  Mr.  Barnes,"  he  said  quickly 
—  "a  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald.     Where  is  he.''  " 

There  was  no  one  who  could  answer !  Mr.  Barnes  was 
speechless  between  the  shock  of  the  spilt  port  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  couple  of  uniformed  policemen  in  his  dining- 
room.  John  Dory,  the  detective,  he  knew  well  enough  in 
his  private  capacity,  but  in  his  uniform,  and  attended  by 
policemen,  he  presented  a  new  and  startling  appearance! 
Mrs.  Barnes  was  in  hysterics,  and  Maud  was  gazing  like 


Tlie  dojr  -zvas  no  sooner  closed  than  slie  held 
out  her  hands. 

Page  g 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFF  9 

a  creature  turned  to  stone  at  the  open  window,  through 
which  Httle  puffs  of  fog  were  ah-eady  drifting  into  the 
room.  Adolphus,  with  an  air  of  bewilderment,  was  stand- 
ing with  his  mouth  and  eyes  wider  open  than  they  had  ever 
been  in  his  Hfe.  And  as  for  the  honored  guest  of  these  ad- 
mirable inhabitants  of  Daisy  Villa,  there  was  not  the  slight- 
est doubt  but  that  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald  had  disappeared 
through  the  window ! 

Fitzgerald's  expedition  was  nearly  at  an  end.  Soon  he 
paused,  crossed  the  road  to  a  block  of  flats,  ascended  to 
the  eighth  floor  by  an  automatic  lift,  and  rang  the  bell  at  a 
door  which  bore  simply  the  number  11.  A  trim  parlor- 
maid opened  it  after  a  few  minutes'  delay. 

"  Is  Miss  Emerson  at  home?  "  he  asked. 

"  Miss  Emerson  is  in,"  the  maid  admitted,  with  some 
hesitation,  "  but  I  am  not  sure  that  she  will  see  any  one 
to-night." 

"  I  have  a  message  for  her,"  Fitzgerald  said. 

"Will  you  give  me  your  name,  sir,  please?  "  the  maid 
asked. 

An  inner  door  was  suddenly  opened.  A  slim  girl,  look- 
ing taller  than  she  really  was  by  reason  of  the  rug  upon 
which  she  stood,  looked  out  into  the  hall  —  a  girl  with 
masses  of  brown  hair  loosely  coiled  on  her  head,  with  pale 
face  and  strange  eyes.  She  opened  her  lips  as  though  to 
call  to  her  visitor  by  name,  and  as  suddenly  closed  them 
again.  There  was  not  much  expression  in  her  face,  but 
there  was  enough  to  show  that  his  visit  was  not  unwelcome. 

"  You !  "  she  exclaimed.     "  Come  in  !     Please  come  in  at 


once 


I  " 


Fitzgerald  obeyed  the  invitation  of  the  girl  whom  he  had 
come  to  visit.  She  had  retreated  a  little  into  the  room,  but 
the  door  was  no  sooner  closed  than  she  held  out  her  hands. 


10    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Peter !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  Peter,  you  have  come  to  me 
at  last ! " 

Her  lips  were  a  little  parted ;  her  eyes  were  bright  with 
pleasure ;  her  whole  expression  was  one  of  absolute  delight. 
Fitzgerald  frowned,  as  though  he  found  her  welcome  a 
little  too  enthusiastic  for  his  taste. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  please  don't  look  at  me  as  though 
I  were  a  prodigal  sheep.  If  you  do,  I  shall  be  sorry  that 
I  came." 

Her  hands  fell  to  her  side,  the  pleasure  died  out  of  her 
face  —  only  her  eyes  still  questioned  him.  Fitzgerald  care- 
fully laid  his  hat  on  a  vacant  chair. 

*'  Something  has  happened?  "  she  said.  "  Tell  me  that 
all  that  madness  is  over  —  that  you  are  yourself  again !  " 

"  So  far  as  regards  my  engagement  with  Messrs.  Howell 
&  Wilson,"  he  said,  despondently,  "  you  are  right.  As  re- 
gards —  Miss  Barnes,  there  has  been  no  direct  misunder- 
standing between  us,  but  I  am  afraid,  for  the  present,  that 
I  must  consider  that  —  well,  in  abeyance." 

"  That  is  something !  "  she  exclaimed,  drawing  a  little 
breath  of  relief.  "  Sit  down,  Peter.  Will  you  have  some- 
thing to  eat?    I  finished  dinner  an  hour  ago,  but  —  " 

"  Thank  you,"  Fitzgerald  interrupted,  "  I  supped  — 
extremely  well  in  Streatham !  " 

"  In  Streatham !  "  she  repeated.  "  Why,  how  did  you 
get  there.''    The  fog  is  awful." 

"  Fogs  do  not  trouble  me,"  Fitzgerald  answered.  "  I 
walked.  I  could  have  done  it  as  well  blindfold.  I  wiU  take 
a  whiskey  and  soda,  if  I  may." 

She  led  him  to  an  easy-chair. 

"  I  will  mix  it  myself,"  she  said. 

Without  being  remarkably  good-looking,  she  was  cer- 
tainly a  pleasant  and  attractive-looking  young  woman. 
Her  cheeks  were  a  little  pale ;    her  hair  —  perfectly  nat- 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFF  ii 

ural  —  was  a  wonderful  deep  shade  of  soft  brown.  Her 
eyes  were  long  and  narrow  —  almost  Oriental  in  shape  — • 
and  they  seemed  in  some  queer  way  to  match  the  room ;  he 
could  have  sworn  that  in  the  firelight  they  flashed  green. 
Her  body  and  limbs,  notwithstar  'ing  her  extreme  slight- 
ness,  were  graceful,  perhaps,  but  with  the  grace  of  the 
tigress.  She  wore  a  green  silk  dressing-jacket,  pulled  to- 
gether with  a  belt  of  lizard-skin,  and  her  neck  was  bare. 
Her  skirt  was  of  some  thin  black  material.  She  was  obvi- 
ously in  deshabille,  and  yet  there  was  something  neat  and 
trim  about  the  smaller  details  of  her  toilette. 

"  Go  on,  please,  Peter,"  she  begged.  "  You  are  keeping 
me  in  suspense." 

"  There  is  n't  much  to  tell,"  he  answered.  "  It 's  over  — 
that 's  all." 

She  drew  a  sharp  breath  through  her  teeth. 

"  You  are  not  going  to  marry  that  girl  —  that  bourgeois 
doll  in  Streatham.P  " 

Fitzgerald  sat  up  in  his  chair. 

"  Look  here,"  he  said,  seriously,  "  don't  you  call  her 
names.  If  I  'm  not  going  to  marry  her,  it  is  n't  my  fault. 
She  is  the  only  girl  I  have  ever  wanted,  and  probably  — 
most  probably  —  she  will  be  the  only  one  I  ever  shall  want. 
That 's  honest,  is  n't  it.?  " 

The  girl  winced. 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  "  it  is  honest !  " 

"  I  should  have  married  her,"  the  young  man  continued, 
*'  and  I  should  have  been  happy.  I  had  my  eye  on  a  villa 
—  not  too  near  her  parents  —  and  I  saw  my  way  to  a 
little  increase  of  salary.  I  should  have  taken  to  gardening, 
to  walks  in  the  Park,  with  an  occasional  theatre,  and  I 
should  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  a  fortnight  every  sum- 
mer at  Skegness  or  Sutton-on-Sea.  We  should  have  saved 
a  little  money.     I  should  have  gone  to  church  regularly. 


12     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

and  if  possible  I  should  have  filled  some  minor  public  offices. 
You  may  call  this  bourgeois  —  it  was  my  idea  of 
happiness." 

"  Was  !  "  she  murmured. 

"  Is  still,"  he  declared,  sharply,  "  but  I  shall  never  attain 
to  it.  To-night  I  had  to  leave  Maud  —  to  leave  the 
supper-table   of  Daisy  Villa  —  through  the  window !  " 

She  looked  at  him  in  amazement. 

"  The  police,"  he  explained.  "  That  brute  Dory  was  at 
the  bottom  of  it." 

"  But  surely,"  she  murmured,  "  you  told  me  that  you  had 
a  bona-fide  situation  —  " 

"  So  I  had,"  he  declared,  "  and  I  was  a  fool  not  to  be 
content  with  it.  It  was  my  habit  of  taking  long  country 
walks,  and  their  rotten  auditing,  which  undid  me!  You 
understand  that  this  was  all  before  I  met  Maud.''  Since 
the  day  I  spoke  to  her,  I  turned  over  a  new  leaf.  I  have 
left  the  night  work  alone,  and  I  repaid  every  penny  of  the 
firm's  money  which  they  could  ever  have  possibly  found  out 
about.  There  was  only  that  one  little  affair  of  mine  down 
at  Sudbury." 

"  Tell  me  what  you  are  going  to  do .'' "  she 
whispered. 

"  I  have  no  alternative,"  he  answered.  "  The  law  has 
kicked  me  out  from  the  respectable  places.  The  law  shall 
pay!" 

She  looked  at  him  with  glowing  eyes. 

"  Have  you  any  plans.''  "  she  asked,  softly. 

"  I  have,"  he  answered.  "  I  have  considered  the  subject 
from  a  good  many  points  of  view,  and  I  have  decided  to 
start  in  business  for  myself  as  a  private  detective." 

She  raised  her  eyebrows. 

"  My  dear  Peter !  "  she  murmured.  "  Could  n't  you  be 
a  little  more  original  .^  " 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFF  13 

"  That  is  only  what  I  am  going  to  call  myself,"  he  an- 
swered. "  I  may  tell  you  that  I  am  going  to  strike  out  on 
somewhat  new  lines." 

"  Please  explain,"  she  begged. 

He  recrossed  his  knees  and  made  himself  a  little  more 
comfortable. 

"  The  weak  part  of  every  great  robbery,  however  suc- 
cessful," he  began,  "  is  the  great  wastage  in  value  which 
invariably  results.  For  jewels  which  cost  —  say  five  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  to  procure  which  the  artist  has  to  risk 
his  life  as  well  as  his  liberty,  he  has  to  consider  himself 
lucky  if  he  clears  eight  hundred.  For  the  Hermitage 
rubies,  for  instance,  where  I  nearly  had  to  shoot  a  man 
dead,  I  realized  rather  less  than  four  hundred  pounds.  It 
does  n't  pay." 

"  Go  on,"  she  begged. 

"  I  am  not  clear,"  he  continued,  "  how  far  this  class  of 
business  will  attract  me  at  all,  but  I  do  not  propose,  in  any 
case,  to  enter  into  any  transactions  on  my  own  account. 
I  shall  work  for  other  people,  and  for  cash  down.  Your 
experience  of  life,  Violet,  has  been  fairly  large.  Have  you 
not  sometimes  come  into  contact  with  people  driven  into 
a  situation  from  which  they  would  willingly  commit  any 
crime  to  escape  if  they  dared?  It  is  not  with  them  a  ques- 
tion of  money  at  all  —  it  is  simply  a  matter  of  ignorance. 
They  do  not  know  how  to  commit  a  crime.  They  have  had 
no  experience,  and  if  they  attempt  it,  they  know  perfectly 
well  that  they  are  likely  to  blunder.  A  person  thoroughly 
experienced  in  the  ways  of  criminals  —  a  person  of  genius 
like  myself  —  would  have,  without  a  doubt,  an  immense 
clientele,  if  only  he  dared  put  up  his  signboard.  Literally, 
I  cannot  do  that.  Actually,  I  mean  to  do  so !  I  shall  be 
willing  to  accept  contracts  either  to  help  nervous  people 
out  of  an  undesirable  crisis ;    or,  on  the  other  hand,  to 


14     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

measure  my  wits  against  the  wits  of  Scotland  Yard,  and  to 
discover  the  criminals  whom  they  have  failed  to  secure. 
I  shall  make  my  own  bargains,  and  I  shall  be  paid  in  cash. 
I  shall  take  on  nothing  that  I  am  not  certain  about." 

"  But  your  clients  ?  "  she  asked,  curiously.  "  How  will 
you  come  into  contact  with  them.''  " 

He  smiled. 

^  I  am  not  afraid  of  business  being  slack,"  he  said. 
"  The  world  is  full  of  fools." 

"  You  cannot  live  outside  the  law,  Peter,"  she  objected. 
"  Y^ou  are  clever,  I  know,  but  they  are  not  all  fools  at 
Scotland  Yard." 

"  You  forget,"  he  reminded  her,  "  that  there  will  be  a 
perfectly  legitimate  side  to  my  profession.  The  other 
sort  of  case  I  shall  only  accept  if  I  can  see  my  way  clear 
to  make  a  success  of  it.  Needless  to  say,  I  shall  have  to 
refuse  the  majority  that  are  offered  to  me." 

She  came  a  httle  nearer  to  him. 

"  In  any  case,"  she  said,  with  a  little  sigh,  "  you  have 
given  up  that  foolish,  bourgeois  life  of  yours  ?  " 

He  looked  down  into  her  face,  and  his  eyes  were  cold. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  this  is  no  time  for  misunderstand- 
ings. I  should  like  you  to  know  that  apart  from  one  young 
lady,  who  possesses  my  whole  affection  —  " 

"Allof  it?"  she  pleaded. 

"  All !  "  he  declared  emphatically.  "  She  will  doubtless 
be  faithless  to  me  —  under  the  circumstances,  I  cannot 
blame  her  —  but  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  have  no  affec- 
tion whatever  for  any  one  else." 

She  crept  back  to  her  place. 

"  I  could  be  so  useful  to  you,"  she  murmured. 

"  You  could  and  you  shall,  if  you  will  be  sensible,"  he 
answered. 

"  Tell  me  how.?  "  she  begged. 


INTRODUCING    MR.    PETER    RUFF  15 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment. 

"  Are  you  acting  now.^*  "  he  asked. 

"  I  am  understudying  Molly,"  she  answered,  "  and  I 
have  a  very  small  part  at  the  Globe.^^ 

He  nodded. 

"  There  is  no  reason  to  interfere  with  that,"  he  said,  "  in 
fact,  I  wish  you  to  continue  your  connection  with  the  pro- 
fession. It  brings  you  into  touch  with  the  class  of  people 
among  whom  I  am  hkely  to  find  chents." 

"  Go  on,  please,"  she  begged. 

"  On  two  conditions  —  or  rather  one,"  he  said,  "  you 
can,  if  you  like,  become  my  secretary  and  partner  —  and 
find  the  money  we  shall  require  to  make  a  start." 

"  Conditions  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  You  must  understand,  once  and  for  all,"  he  said,  "  that 
I  will  not  be  made  love  to,  and  that  I  can  treat  you  only 
as  a  working  companion.  My  name  will  be  Peter  Ruff, 
and  yours  Miss  Brown.  You  will  have  to  dress  like  a  sec- 
retary, and  behave  like  one.  Sometimes  there  will  be  plenty 
of  work  for  you,  and  sometimes  there  will  be  none  at  all. 
Sometimes  you  will  be  bored  to  death,  and  sometimes  there 
will  be  excitement.  I  do  not  wish  to  make  you  vain,  but  I 
may  add,  especially  as  you  are  aware  of  my  personal  feel- 
ings toward  you,  that  you  are  the  only  person  in  the  world 
to  whom  I  would  make  this  offer." 

She  sighed  gently. 

"  Tell  me,  Peter,"  she  asked,  "  when  do  you  mean  to 
start  this  new  enterprise?  " 

"  Not  for  six  months  —  perhaps  a  year,"  he  answered. 
"  I  must  go  to  Paris  —  perhaps  Vienna.  I  might  even 
have  to  go  to  New  York.  There  are  certain  associations 
with  which  I  must  come  into  touch  —  certain  information 
I  must  become  possessed  of." 

"  Peter,"  she  said,  "  I  like  your  scheme,  but  there  is  just 


i6     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

one  thing.  Such  men  as  you  should  be  the  brains  of  great 
enterprises.  Don't  you  understand  what  I  mean?  It 
should  n't  be  you  who  does  the  actual  thing  which  brings 
you  witliin  the  power  of  the  law.  I  am  not  over-scrupu- 
lous, you  know.  I  hate  wrongdoing,  but  I  have  never  been 
able  to  treat  as  equal  criminals  the  poor  man  who  steals 
for  a  living,  and  the  rich  financier  who  robs  right  and  left 
out  of  sheer  greed.  I  agree  with  you  that  crime  is  not  an 
absolute  thing.  The  circumstances  connected  with  every 
action  in  life  determine  its  morality  or  immorality.  But, 
Peter,  it  is  n't  worth   while  to  go  outside  the  law !  " 

He  nodded. 

"  You  are  a  sensible  girl,"  he  said,  "  I  have  always 
thought  that.  We  '11  talk  over  my  cases  together,  if  they 
seem  to  run  a  little  too  close  to  the  line." 

"  Very  well,  Peter,"  she  said,  "  I  accept." 


CHAPTER    II 

A    NEW    CAREEB. 

About  twelve  months  after  the  interrupted  festivities  at 
Daisy  Villa,  that  particular  neighborhood  was  again  the 
scene  of  some  rejoicing.  Standing  before  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Barnes  were  three  cariages,  drawn  in  each  case  by  a 
pair  of  gray  horses.  The  coachmen  and  their  steeds  were 
similarly  adorned  with  white  rosettes.  It  would  have  been 
an  insult  to  the  intelligence  of  the  most  youthful  of  the 
loungers-by  to  have  informed  them  that  a  wedding  was 
projected. 

At  the  neighboring  church  all  was  ready.  The  clerk 
stood  at  the  door,  the  red  drugget  was  down,  the  usual 
little  crowd  were  standing  all  agog  upon  the  pavement. 
There  was  one  unusual  feature  of  the  proceedings  :  Instead 
of  a  soUtary  policeman,  there  were  at  least  a  dozen  who 
kept  clear  the  entrance  to  the  church.  Their  presence 
greatly  puzzled  a  little  old  gentleman  who  had  joined  the 
throng  of  sightseers.  He  pushed  himself  to  the  front  and 
touched  one  of  them  upon  the  shoulder. 

"  Mr.  Policeman,"  he  said,  "  will  you  tell  me  why  there 
are  so  many  of  you  to  keep  such  a  small  crowd  in  order?  " 

"  Bridegroom 's  a  member  of  the  force,  sir,  for  one 
reason,"  the  man  answered  good-humoredly. 

"  And  the  other?  "  the  old  gentleman  persisted. 


i8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

The  policeman  behaved  as  though  he  had  not  heard  — 
a  proceeding  which  his  natural  stolidity  rendered  easy. 
The  little  old  gentleman,  however,  was  not  so  easily  put 
off.     He  tapped  the  man  once  more  upon  the  shoulder. 

'^  And  the  other  reason,  Mr.  Policeman.'*"  he  asked 
insinuatingly. 

"  Not  allowed  to  talk  about  that,  sir,"  was  the  some- 
what gruff  reply. 

The  little  old  gentleman  moved  away,  a  trifle  hurt.  He 
was  a  very  nicely  dressed  old  gentleman  indeed,  and  every- 
thing about  him  seemed  to  savor  of  prosperity.  But  he 
was  certainly  garrulous.  An  obviously  invited  guest  was 
standing  upon  the  edge  of  the  pavement  stroking  a  pair 
of  lavender  kid  gloves.  The  little  old  gentleman  sidled  up 
to  him. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  he  said,  raising  his  hat.  "  I 
am  j  ust  back  from  Australia  —  have  n't  seen  a  wedding  in 
England  for  fifty  years.  Do  you  think  that  they  would  let 
me  into  the  church.'*  " 

The  invited  guest  looked  down  at  his  questioner  and 
approved  of  him.  Furthermore,  he  seemed  exceedingly 
glad  to  be  interrupted  in  his  somewhat  nervous  task  of 
waiting  for  the  wedding-party. 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  he  rephed  cheerfully.  '*  Come  along 
in  with  me,  and  I  '11  find  you  a  seat." 

Down  the  scarlet  drugget  they  went  —  the  big  best  man 
with  the  red  hands  and  the  lavender  kid  gloves  and  the  opu- 
lent-looking old  gentleman  with  the  gold-rimmed  spectacles 
and  the  handsome  walking-stick. 

*'  Dear  me,  this  is  very  interesting ! "  the  latter  re- 
marked. "  Is  it  the  custom,  sir,  always,  may  I  ask,  in  this 
country,  to  have  so  many  policemen  at  a  wedding?  " 

The  big  man  looked  downward  and  shook  his  head. 

"  Special    reason,"    he    said    mysteriously.      "  Fact    is, 


A    NEW    CAREER  19 

young  lady  was  engaged  once  to  a  very  bad  character  — 
a  burglar  whom  the  police  have  been  wanting  for  years. 
He  had  to  leave  the  country,  but  he  has  written  her  once  or 
twice  since  in  a  mysterious  sort  of  way  —  wanted  her  to 
be  true  to  him,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  Dory  —  that  's 
the  bridegroom  —  has  got  a  sort  of  an  idea  that  he  may 
turn  up  to-day." 

"  This  is  very  exciting  —  very !  "  the  httle  old  gentle- 
man remarked.  "  Reminds  me  of  our  younger  days  out 
in  Australia." 

"  You  sit  down  here,"  the  best  man  directed,  ushering 
his  companion  into  an  empty  pew.  "  I  must  get  back 
again  outside,  or  I  shall  have  the  bridegroom  arriving." 

"  Good-day  to  you,  sir,  and  many  thanks !  "  the  little 
old  gentleman  said  politely. 

Soon  the  bridegroom  arrived  —  a  smart  young  officer, 
well  thought  of  at  Scotland  Yard,  well  set  up,  wearing  a 
long  tail  coat,  a  lilac  and  white  tie,  and  shaking  in  every 
limb.  He  walked  up  the  aisle  accompanied  by  the  best 
man,  and  the  little  old  gentleman  from  Australia  watched 
him  genially  from  behind  those  gold-rimmed  glasses.  And, 
then,  scarcely  was  he  at  the  altar  rails  when  through  the 
open  church  door  one  heard  the  sound  of  horses'  feet,  one 
heard  a  rustle,  the  murmur  of  voices,  caught  a  glimpse  of 
a  waiting  group  arranging  themselves  finally  in  the  porch 
of  the  church.  Maud,  on  the  arm  of  her  father,  came 
slowly  up  the  aisle.  The  little  old  gentleman  turned  his 
head  as  though  this  was  something  upon  which  he  feared 
to  look.  He  saw  nothing  of  Mr.  Barnes,  in  a  new  coat, 
with  a  tuberose  and  spray  of  maidenhair  in  his  coat,  and 
exceedingly  tight  patent  leather  boots  on  his  feet ;  he  saw 
nothing  of  Mrs.  Barnes,  clad  in  a  gown  of  the  lightest 
magenta,  with  a  bonnet  smothered  with  violets. 

It  was  in  the  vestry  that  the  only  untoward  incident  of 


20     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

that  highly  successful  wedding  took  place.  The  ceremony 
was  over!  Bride,  bridegroom  and  parents  trooped  in. 
And  when  the  register  was  opened,  one  witness  had  already 
signed !  In  clear,  precise  writing  his  name  stood  out  upon 
the  virgin  page  — 

Spencer  Fitzgerald 

The  bridegroom  swore,  the  bride  nearly  collapsed.  The 
clerk  pressed  into  the  hands  of  the  latter  an  envelope. 

*'  From  the  little  old  gentleman,"  he  announced,  "  who 
was  fussing  round  the  church  this  morning." 

Mrs.  Dory  tore  it  open  and  gave  a  cry  of  delight.  A 
diamond  cross,  worth  all  the  rest  of  her  presents  put  to- 
gether, flashed  soft  lights  from  a  background  of  dull  vel- 
vet. Her  husband  had  looked  over  her  shoulder,  and  with 
a  scowl  seized  the  morocco  case  and  threw  it  far  from 
him. 

It  was  the  only  disturbing  incident  of  a  highly  successful 
function ! 

At  precisely  the  same  moment  when  the  wedding  guests 
were  seated  around  the  hospitable  board  of  Daisy  Villa,  a 
celebration  of  a  somewhat  different  nature  was  taking 
place  in  the  more  aristocratic  neighborhood  of  Curzon 
Street.  Here,  however,  the  little  party  was  a  much  smaller 
one,  and  the  innocent  gayety  of  the  gathering  at  Daisy 
Villa  was  entii'ely  lacking.  The  luncheon  table  around 
which  the  four  men  were  seated  presented  all  the  unlovely 
signs  of  a  meal  where  self-restraint  has  been  abandoned  — 
where  conviviality  has  passed  the  bounds  of  license.  Edi- 
bles were  represented  only  by  a  single  dish  of  fruit;  the 
tablecloth,  stained  with  wine  and  cigar  ash,  seemed  crowded 
with  every  sort  of  bottle  and  every  sort  of  glass.  A  mag- 
num of  champagne,  empty,  another  half  full,  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  table ;  whiskey,  brandy,  liqueurs  of  various 
sorts    were    all  represented ;     glasses  —  some    full,    some 


A    NEW    CAREER  21 

empty,  some  filled  with  cigar  ash  and  cigarette  stumps  — 
an  ugly  sight! 

The  guest  in  chief  arose.  Short,  thick-set,  red-faced, 
with  bulbous  eyes,  and  veins  about  his  temples  which  just 
now  were  unpleasantly  prominent,  he  seemed,  indeed,  a 
very  fitting  person  to  have  been  the  recipient  of  such  hospi- 
tality. He  stood  clutching  a  little  at  the  tablecloth  and 
swaying  upon  his  feet.  He  spoke  as  a  drunken  man,  but 
such  words  as  he  pronounced  clearly  showed  him  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  a  voice  naturally  thick  and  raspy.  It  was  ob- 
vious that  he  was  a  person  of  entirely  different  class  from 
his  three  companions. 

"G — gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  must  be  off.  I  thank 
you  very  much  for  this  —  hospitality.  Honored,  I  'm  sure, 
to  have  sat  down  in  such  —  such  company.  Good 
afternoon,  all !  " 

He  lurched  a  little  toward  the  door,  but  his  neighbor  at 
the  table  —  who  was  also  his  host  —  caught  hold  of  his 
coat-tail  and  pulled  him  back  into  his  chair. 

"  No  hurry.  Masters,"  he  said.  "  One  more  liqueur, 
eh  ?     It 's  a  raw  afternoon." 

"  N — not  another  drop.  Sir  Richard !  "  the  man  de- 
clared. "  Not  another  drop  to  drink.  I  am  very  much 
obliged  to  you  all,  but  I  must  be  off.  Must  be  off,"  he 
repeated,  making  another  effort  to  rise. 

His  host  held  him  by  the  arm.  The  man  resented  it  — 
he  showed  signs  of  anger. 

"  D — n  it  all !  I  —  I  'm  not  a  prisoner,  am  I  ?  "  he 
exclaimed  angrily.  "  Tell  you  I  've  got  —  appointment  — 
club.     Can't  you  see  it 's  past  five  o'clock.'*  " 

"  That 's  all  right.  Masters,"  the  man  whom  he  had  ad- 
dressed as  Sir  Richard  declared  soothingly.  "  We  want 
just  a  word  with  you  on  business  first,  before  you  go  — 
Colonel  Dickinson,  Lord  Merries  and  myself." 


22     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Masters  shook  his  head. 

"  See  you  to-morrow,"  he  declared.  "  No  time  to  talk 
business  now.     Let  me  go  !  " 

He  made  another  attempt  to  rise,  which  his  host  also 
prevented. 

"  Masters,  don't  be  a  fool !  "  the  latter  said  firmly. 
"  You  've  got  to  hear  what  we  want  to  say  to  you.  Sit 
down  and  listen." 

Masters  relapsed  sullenly  into  his  chair.  His  little  eyes 
seemed  to  creep  closer  to  one  another.  So  they  wanted  to 
talk  business !  Perhaps  it  was  for  that  reason  that  they 
had  bidden  him  sit  at  their  table  — ;  had  entertained  him  so 
well !    The  very  thought  cleared  his  brain. 

*'  Go  on,"  he  said  shortly. 

Sir  Richard  lit  a  cigarette  and  leaned  further  back  in 
his  chair.  He  was  a  man  apparently  about  fifty  years 
of  age  —  tall,  well  dressed,  with  good  features,  save  for  his 
mouth,  which  resembled  more  than  anything  a  rat-trap. 
He  was  perfectly  bald,  and  he  had  the  air  of  a  man  who 
was  a  careful  liver.  His  eyes  were  bright,  almost  beadlike ; 
his  fingers  long  and  a  trifle  over-manicured.  One  would 
have  judged  him  to  be  what  he  was  —  a  man  of  fashion 
and  a  patron  of  the  turf. 

"  Masters,"  he  said,  "  we  are  all  old  friends  here.  We 
want  to  speak  to  you  plainly.  We  three  have  had  a  try,  as 
you  know  —  Merries,  Dickinson  and  myself  —  to  make 
the  coup  of  our  lives.  We  failed,  and  we're  up  against  it 
hard." 

*'  Very  hard,  indeed,"  Lord  Merries  murmured  softly. 

"  Deuced  hard !  "  Colonel  Dickinson  echoed. 

Masters  was  sitting  tight,  breathing  a  little  hard,  look- 
ing fixedly  at  his  host. 

"  Take  my  own  case  first,"  the  latter  continued.  *'  I  am 
Sir  Richard  Dyson,  ninth  baronet,  with  estates  in  Wilt- 


A    NEW    CAREER  23 

shire  and  Scotland,  and  a  town  house  in  Cleveland  Place. 
I  belong  to  the  proper  clubs  for  a  man  in  my  position, 
and,  somehow  or  other  —  we  won't  say  how  —  I  have 
managed  to  pay  my  way.  There  is  n't  an  acre  of  my  prop- 
erty that  is  n't  mortgaged  for  more  than  its  value.  My 
town  house  —  well,  it  does  n't  belong  to  me  at  all !  I  have 
twenty-six  thousand  pounds  to  pay  you  on  Monday.  To 
save  my  life,  I  could  not  raise  twenty-six  thousand 
farthings !       So    much    for    me." 

The  man  Masters  ground  his  teeth. 

"  So  much  for  y^ !  "  he  muttered. 

"  Take  the  case  next,"  Sir  Richard  continued,  "of  my 
friend  Merries  here.  Merries  is  an  Earl,  it  is  true,  but  he 
never  had  a  penny  to  bless  himself  with.  He  's  tried  acting, 
reporting,  marrying  —  anything  to  make  an  honest  living. 
So  far,  I  am  afraid  we  must  consider  Lord  Merries  as 
something  of  a  failure,  eh?  " 

"  A  rotten  failure,  I  should  say,"  that  young  nobleman 
declared  gloomily. 

"  Lord  Merries  is,  to  put  it  briefly,  financially  unsound," 
Sir  Richard  declared. 

"  What  is  the  amount  of  your  debt  to  Mr.  Masters,  Jim .''  " 

"  Eleven  thousand  two  hundred  pounds,"  Lord  Merries 
answered. 

"  And  we  may  take  it,  I  presume,  for  granted  that  you 
have  not  that  sum,  nor  anything  like  it,  at  your  disposal.''  " 
Sir  Richard  asked. 

"  Not  a  fiver !  "  Lord  Merries  declared  with  emphasis. 

"  We  come  now,  Mr.  Masters,  to  our  friend  Colonel 
Dickinson,"  Sir  Richard  continued.  "  Colonel  Dickinson 
is,  perhaps,  in  a  more  favorable  situation  than  any  of  us. 
He  has  a  small  but  regular  income,  and  he  has  expectations 
which  it  is  not  possible  to  mortgage  fully.  At  the  same 
time,  it  will  be  many  years  before  they  can  —  er  —  fructify. 


24     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

He  is,  therefore,  with  us  in  this  somewhat  unpleasant 
predicament  in  which  we  find  ourselves." 

"  Cut  it  short,"  Masters  growled.  "  I  'm  sick  of  so 
much  talk.     What 's  it  all  mean.''  " 

"  It  means  simply  this,  Mr.  Masters,"  Sir  Richard  said, 
"  we  want  you  to  take  six  months'  bills  for  our  indebtedness 
to  you." 

Masters  rose  to  his  feet.  His  thick  lips  were  drawn  a 
little  apart.  He  had  the  appearance  of  a  savage  and 
discontented  animal. 

"  So  that 's  why  I  've  been  asked  here  and  fed  up  with 
wine  and  stuff,  eh?"  he  exclaimed  thickly.  "Well,  my 
answer  to  you  is  soon  given.  NO !  I  '11  take  bills  from  no 
man !  My  terms  are  cash  on  settling  day  —  cash  to  pay 
or  cash  to  receive.     I  '11  have  no  other !  " 

Sir  Richard  rose  also  to  his  feet. 

"  Mr.  Masters,  I  beg  of  you  to  be  reasonable,"  he  said. 
"  You  will  do  yourself  no  good  by  adopting  this  attitude. 
Facts  are  facts.  We  have  n't  got  a  thousand  pounds 
between  us." 

"  I  've  heard  that  sort  of  a  tale  before,"  Masters  an- 
swered, with  a  sneer.  "  Job  Masters  is  too  old  a  bird 
to  be  caught  by  such  chaff.  I  '11  take  my  risks,  gentlemen. 
I  '11  take  my  risks." 

He  moved  toward  the  door.  No  one  spoke  a  word.  The 
silence  as  he  crossed  the  room  seemed  a  little  ominous. 
He  looked  over  his  shoulder.  They  were  all  three  stand- 
ing in  their  places,  looking  at  him.  A  vague  sense  of 
uneasiness  disturbed  his  equanimity. 

"  No  offense,  gents,"  he  said,  "  and  good  afternoon !  " 

Still  no  reply.  He  reached  the  door  and  turned  the 
handle.  The  door  was  fast.  He  shook  it  —  gently  at 
first,  and  then  violently.  Suddenly  he  realized  that  it 
was  locked.     He  turned  sharply  around. 


A    NEW    CAREER  25 

"  What  game  's  this  ?  "  he  exclaimed,  fiercely.  "  Let 
me  out !  " 

They  stood  in  their  places  without  movement.  There 
was  something  a  little  ominous  in  their  silence.  Masters 
was  fast  becoming  a  sober  man. 

"  Let  me  out  of  here,"  he  exclaimed,  "  or  I  '11  break  the 
door  down !  " 

Sir  Richard  Dyson  came  slowly  towards  him.  There 
was  something  in  his  appearance  which  terrified  Masters. 
He  raised  his  fist  to  strike  the  door.  He  was  a  fighting 
man,  but  he  felt  a  sudden  sense  of  impotence. 

"  Mr.  Masters,"  Sir  Richard  said  suavely,  "  the  truth  is 
that  we  cannot  afford  to  let  you  go  —  unless  you  agree  to 
do  what  we  have  asked.  You  see  we  really  have  not  the 
money  or  any  way  of  raising  it  —  and  the  inconvenience 
of  being  posted  you  have  yourself  very  ably  pointed  out. 
Change  your  mind,  Mr.  Masters.  Take  those  bills.  We  '11 
do  our  best  to  meet  them." 

"  I  '11  do  nothing  of  the  sort,"  Masters  answered,  strik- 
ing the  door  fiercely  with  his  clenched  fist.  "  I  '11  have 
cash  —  nothing  but  the  cash !  " 

There  was  a  dull,  sickening  thud,  and  the  bookmaker 
went  over  like  a  shot  rabbit.  His  legs  twitched  for  a 
moment  —  a  little  moan  that  was  scarcely  audible  broke 
from  his  lips.  Then  he  lay  quite  still.  Sir  Richard  bent 
over  him  with  the  life-preserver  still  in  his  hand. 

"  I  've  done  it !  "  he  muttered,  hoarsely.  "  One  blow ! 
Thank  Heaven,  he  did  n't  want  another !  His  skull  was 
as  soft  as  pudding !    Ugh !  " 

He  turned  away.  The  man  who  lay  stretched  upon  the 
floor  was  an  ugly  sight.  His  two  companions,  cowering 
over  the  table,  were  not  much  better.  Dyson's  trembling 
fingers  went  out  for  the  brandy  decanter.  Half  of  what 
he  poured  out  was  spilled  upon  the  tablecloth.  The  rest 
he  drank  from  a  tumbler,  neat. 


26     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  It 's  nervous  work,  this,  you  fellows,"  he  said,  hoarsely. 

"  It 's  hellish !  "  Dickinson  answered.  "  Let 's  have 
some  air  in  the  room.     My  God,  it 's  close ! 

He  sank  back  into  his  chair,  white  to  the  lips.  Dyson 
looked  at  him  sharply. 

"  Look  here,"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  hold  you  both  to  our 
bargain!  I  was  to  be  the  one  he  attacked  and  who  struck 
the  blow  —  in  self-defense !  Remember  that  —  it  was  in 
self-defense !  I  've  done  it !  I  've  done  my  share !  I  hope 
to  God  I  '11  forget  it  some  day.  Andrew,  you  know  your 
task.     Be  a  man,  and  get  to  work !  " 

Dickinson  rose  to  his  feet  unsteadily. 

"Yes!"  he  said.  "What  was  it?  I  have  forgotten, 
for  the  moment,  but  I  am  ready." 

"  You  must  get  his  betting-book  from  his  pocket,"  Sir 
Richard  directed.  "  Then  you  must  help  Merries  down- 
stairs with  him,  and  into  the  car.  Merries  is  —  to  get 
rid  of  him." 

Merries  shivered.  His  hand,  too,  went  out  for  the 
brandy. 

"  To  get  rid  of  him !  "  he  muttered.     "  It  sounds  easy !  " 

"  It  is  easy,"  Sir  Richard  declared.  "  You  have  only 
to  keep  your  nerve,  and  the  thing  is  done.  No  one  will 
see  him  inside  the  car,  in  that  motoring  coat  and  glasses. 
You  can  drive  somewhere  out  into  the  country  and  leave 
him." 

"  Leave  him !  "  Merries  repeated,  trembling.  "  Leave 
him  —  yes  !  " 

Neither  of  the  two  men  moved. 

"  I  must  do  more  than  my  share,  I  suppose,"  Sir  Richard 
said,  contemptuously.     "  Come !  " 

They  dragged  the  man's  body  on  to  a  chair,  wrapped 
a  huge  coat  around  him,  tied  a  motoring  cap  under  his 
chin,   fixed  goggles   over   his   eyes.      Sir  Richard  strolled 


A    NEW    CAREER  27 

into  the  hall  and  opened  the  front  door.  He  stood  there 
for  a  moment,  looking  up  and  down  the  street.  When  he 
gave  the  signal  they  dragged  him  out,  supported  between 
them,  across  the  pavement,  into  the  car.  Ugh!  His  atti- 
tude was  so  natural  as  to  be  absolutely  ghastly.  Merries 
started  the  car  and  sprang  into  the  driver's  seat. 
There  were  people  in  the  Square  now,  but  the  figure 
reclining  in  the  dark,  cushioned  interior  looked  perfectly 
natural. 

"  So  long,  Jimmy,"  Sir  Richard  called  out.  "  See  you 
this  evening." 

"  Right  0 !  "  Merries  replied,  with  a  brave  effort. 

Peter  Ruff,  summoned  by  telephone  from  his  sitting- 
room,  slipped  down  the  stairs  like  a  cat  —  noiseless,  swift. 
The  voice  which  had  summoned  him  had  been  the  voice  of 
his  secretary  —  a  voice  almost  unrecognizable  —  a  voice 
shaken  with  fear.     Fear.''     No,  it  had  been  terror! 

On  the  landing  below,  exactly  underneath  the  room  from 
which  he  had  descended,  there  was  a  door  upon  which  his 
name  was  written  upon  a  small  brass  plate  —  Mr.  Peter 
Ruff.  He  opened  and  closed  it  behind  him  with  a  swift 
movement  which  he  had  practiced  in  his  idle  moments.  He 
found  himself  looking  in  upon  a  curious  scene. 

Miss  Brown,  with  the  radiance  of  her  hair  effectually 
concealed,  in  plain  black  skirt  and  simple  blouse  —  the 
ideal  secretary  —  had  risen  from  the  seat  in  front  of  her 
typewriter,  and  was  standing  facing  the  door  through 
which  he  had  entered,  with  a  small  revolver  —  which  he 
had  given  her  for  a  birthday  present  only  the  day  before 
—  clasped  in  her  outstretched  hand.  The  object  of  her 
solicitude  was,  it  seemed  to  Peter  Ruff,  the  most  pitiful- 
looking  object  upon  which  he  had  ever  looked.  The 
hours   had   dwelt   with   Merries    as    the   years    with   some 


28     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

people,  and  worse.  He  had  lost  his  cap ;  his  hair  hung 
over  his  forehead  in  wild  confusion ;  his  eyes  were  red, 
bloodshot,  and  absolutely  aflame  with  the  terrors  through 
which  he  had  lived  —  underneath  them  the  black  marks 
might  have  been  traced  with  a  charcoal  pencil.  His  cheeks 
were  livid  save  for  one  burning  spot.  His  clothes,  too, 
were  in  disorder  —  the  starch  had  gone  from  his  collar, 
his  tie  hung  loosely  outside  his  waistcoat.  He  was  cower- 
ing back  against  the  wall.  And  between  him  and  the  girl, 
stretched  upon  the  floor,  was  the  body  of  a  man  in  a  huge 
motor-coat,  a  limp,  inert  mass  which  neither  moved  nor 
seemed  to  have  any  sign  of  life.  No  wonder  that  Peter 
Ruff  looked  around  his  office,  whose  serenity  had  been  so 
tragically  disturbed,  with  an  air  of  mild  surprise. 

"  Dear  me,"  he  exclaimed,  "  something  seems  to  have 
happened !  My  dear  Violet,  you  can  put  that  revolver 
away.     I  have  secured  the  door." 

Her  hand  fell  to  her  side.  She  gave  a  little  shiver  of 
relief.     Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  That  is  more  comfortable,"  he  declared.  "  Now, 
perhaps,  you  will  explain  —  " 

"  That  young  man,"  she  interrupted,  "  or  lunatic  — 
whatever  he  calls  himself  —  burst  in  here  a  few  minutes 
ago,  dragging  —  that !  "  She  pointed  to  the  motionless 
figure  upon  the  floor.  "  If  I  had  not  stopped  him,  he 
would  have  bolted  off  without  a  word  of  explanation." 

Peter  Ruff,  with  his  back  against  the  door,  shook  his 
head  gravely. 

"  My  dear  Lord  Merries,"  he  said,  "  my  office  is  not 
a  mortuary." 

Merries  gasped. 

"You  know  me,  then?"  he  muttered,  hoarsely. 

"  Of  course,"  Ruff  answered.  "  It  is  my  profession  to 
know  everybody.     Go  and  sit  down  upon  that  easy-chair. 


A    NEW    CAREER  29 

and  drink  the  brandy  and  soda  which  Miss  Brown  is  about 
to  mix  for  you.     That  's  right." 

Merries  staggered  across  the  room  and  half  fell  into  an 
easy-chair.  He  leaned  over  the  side  with  his  face  buried 
in  his  hands,  unable  still  to  face  the  horror  which  lay  upon 
the  floor.  A  few  seconds  later,  the  tumbler  of  brandy  and 
soda  was  in  his  hands.  He  drank  it  like  a  man  who  drains 
fresh  life  into  his  veins. 

"  Perhaps  now,"  Peter  Rui  -suggested,  pointing  to  the 
motionless  figure,  "  you  can  give  me  some  explanation 
as  to  this  !  " 

Merries  looked  away  from  him  all  the  time  he  was 
speaking.     His  voice  was  thick  and  nervous. 

"  There  were  three  of  us  lunching  together,"  he  began  — 
"  four  in  all.  There  was  a  dispute,  and  this  man  threat- 
ened us.  Afterwards  there  was  a  fight.  It  fell  to  my 
lot  to  take  him  away,  and  I  can't  get  rid  of  him !  I  can't 
get  rid  of  him !  "  he  repeated,  with  something  that  sounded 
like  a  sob. 

"  I  still  do  not  see,"  Peter  Ruff  argued,  "  why  you 
should  have  brought  him  here  and  deposited  him  upon 
my  perfectly  new  carpet." 

"  You  are  Peter  Ruff,"  Merries  declared.  "  '  Crime 
Investigator  and  Private  Detective,'  you  call  yourself. 
You  are  used  to  this  sort  of  thing.  You  will  know  what 
to  do  with  it.     It  is  part  of  your  business," 

"  I  can  assure  you,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  "  that  you 
are  under  a  delusion  as  to  the  details  of  my  profession.  I 
am  Peter  Ruff,"  he  admitted,  "  and  I  call  myself  a  crime 
investigator  —  in  fact,  I  am  the  only  one  worth  speaking 
of  in  the  world.  But  I  certainly  deny  that  I  am  used  to 
having  dead  bodies  deposited  upon  my  carpet,  and  that 
I  make  a  habit  of  disposing  of  them  —  especially  gratis." 

Merries  tore  open  his  coat. 


30     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Listen,"  he  said,  his  voice  shaking  hysterically,  "  I 
must  get  rid  of  it  or  go  mad.  For  two  hours  I  have  been 
driving  about  in  a  motor-car  with  —  it  for  a  passenger. 
I  drove  to  a  quiet  spot  and  I  tried  to  lift  it  out  —  a 
policeman  rode  up!  I  tried  again,  a  man  rushed  by  on 
a  motor-cycle,  and  turned  to  look  at  me !  I  tried  a  few 
minutes  later  —  the  policeman  came  back !  It  was  always 
the  same.  The  night  seemed  to  have  eyes,  I  was  watched 
everywhere.  The  —  the  face  began  to  mock  me.  I  '11 
swear  that  I  heard  it  chuckle  once !  " 

Peter  Ruff  moved  a  little  further  away. 

"  I  don't  think  I  '11  have  anything  to  do  with  it,"  he 
declared.     "  I  don't  like  your  description  at  all." 

"  It  '11  be  all  right  with  you,"  Merries  declared  eagerly. 
"  It 's  my  nerves,  that 's  all.  You  see,  I  was  there  — 
when  the  accident  happened.  See  here,"  he  added,  tearing 
a  pocketbook  from  his  coat,  "  I  have  three  hundred  and 
seventy  pounds  saved  up  in  case  I  had  to  bolt.  I  '11 
keep  seventy  —  three  hundred  for  you  —  to  dispose  of 
it!" 

Ruff  leaned  over  the  motionless  body,  looked  into  its 
face,  and  nodded. 

"  Masters,  the  bookmaker,"  he  remarked.  "  H  'm !  I 
did  hear  that  he  had  a  lot  of  money  coming  to  him  over 
the  Cambridgeshire." 

Merries  shuddered. 

"  May  I  go  ?  "  he  pleaded.  "  There  's  the  three  hundred 
on  the  table.    For  God's  sake,  let  me  go !  " 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  I  wish  you  'd  saved  a  little  more,"  he  said. 
"  However  —  " 

He  turned  the  lock  and  Merries  rushed  out  of  the  room. 
Ruff  looked  across  the  room  towards  his  secretary. 

"  Ring  up  1535  Central,"  he  ordered,  sharply. 


A   NEW   CAREER  31 

Peter  Ruff  had  descended  from  his  apartments  on  the 
top  floor  of  the  building,  in  a  new  brown  suit  with  which 
he  was  violently  displeased,  to  meet  a  caller. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  intrude  —  Mr.  Ruff,  I  believe  it  is  ?  " 
Sir  Richard  Dyson  said,  a  little  irritably  —  "  but  I  have 
not  a  great  deal  of  time  to  spare  —  " 

"  Most  natural !  "  Peter  Ruff  declared.  "  Pray  take  a 
chair.  Sir  Richard.  You  want  to  know,  of  course,  about 
Lord  Merries  and  poor  Masters." 

Sir  Richard  stared  at  his  questioner,  for  a  moment, 
without  speech.  Once  more  the  fear  which  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  banishing  for  a  while,  shone  out  of  his  eyes  — 
revealed  itself  in  the  whiteness  of  his  face. 

"  Try  the  easy-chair,  Sir  Richard,"  Ruff  continued, 
pleasantly.  "  Leave  your  hat  and  cane  on  the  table  there, 
and  make  yourself  comfortable.  I  should  like  to  under- 
stand exactly  what  you  have  come  to  me  for." 

Sir  Richard  moved  his  head  toward  Miss  Brown. 

"  My  business  with  you,"  he  said,  "  is  more  than  ordi- 
narily private.     I  have  the  honor  of  knowing  Miss  —  " 

"  Miss  Brown,"  Peter  interrupted  quickly.  "  In  these 
offices,  this  young  lady's  name  is  Miss  Violet  Brown." 

Sir  Richard   shrugged  his   shoulders. 

"  It  is  of  no  importance,"  he  said,  "  only,  as  you  may 
understand,  my  business  with  you  scarcely  requires  the 
presence  of  a  third  party,  even  one  with  the  discretion 
which  I  am  sure  Miss  —  Brown  possesses." 

"  In  these  matters,"  Ruff  answered,  "  my  secretary  does 
not  exist  apart  from  myself.  Her  presence  is  necessary. 
She  takes  down  in  shorthand  notes  of  our  conversation. 
I  have  a  shocking  memory,  and  there  are  always  points 
which  I  forget.  At  the  conclusion  of  our  business,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  these  notes  are  destroyed.  I  could  not 
work  without  them." 


32     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Sir  Richard  glanced  a  little  doubtfully  at  the  long,  slim 
back  of  the  girl  who  sat  with  her  face  turned  away  from 
him. 

"  Of  course,"  he  began,  "  if  you  make  yourself  person- 
ally responsible  for  her  discretion  —  " 

"  I  am  willing  to  do  so,"  Ruff  interrupted,  brusquely. 
"  I  guarantee  it.     Go  on,  please." 

"  I  do  not  know,  of  course,  where  you  got  your  infor- 
mation from,"  Sir  Richard  began,  "  but  it  is  perfectly 
true  that  I  have  come  here  to  consult  you  upon  a  matter 
in  which  the  two  people  whose  names  you  have  mentioned, 
are  concerned.  The  disappearance  of  Job  Masters  is,  of 
course,  common  talk;  but  I  cannot  tell  what  has  led  you 
to  associate  with  it  the  temporary  absence  of  Lord  Merries 
from  this  country." 

"  Let  me  ask  you  this  question,"  Ruff  said.  "  How 
are  you  affected  by  the  disappearance  of  Masters?" 

"  Indirectly,  it  has  caused  me  a  great  deal  of  in- 
convenience,"  Sir  Richard  declared. 

"  Facts,  please,"  murmured  Peter. 

"  It  has  been  rumored,"  Sir  Richard  admitted,  "  that  I 
owed  Masters  a  large  sum  of  money  which  I  could  not 
pay." 

"  Anything  else.^^  " 

"  It  has  also  been  rumored,"  Sir  Richard  continued, 
"  that  he  was  seen  to  enter  my  house  that  day,  and  that  he 
remained  there  until  late  in  the  afternoon." 

"Did  he?"   asked  Ruff. 

"  Certainly  not,"  Sir  Richard  answered. 

Peter  Ruff  yawned  for  a  moment,  but  covered  the 
indiscretion  with  his  hand. 

"  Respecting  this  inconvenience,"  he  said,  "  which  you 
admit  that  the  disappearance  of  Job  Masters  has  caused 
you,  what  is  its  tangible  side?  " 


A    NEW    CAREER  33 

Sir  Richard  drew  his  chair  a  little  nearer  to  the  table 
where  Ruff  was  sitting.  His  voice  dropped  almost  to  a 
whisper. 

"  It  seems  absurd,"  he  said,  "  and  yet,  what  I  tell  you  is 
the  truth.  I  have  been  followed  about  —  shadowed,  in 
fact  —  for  several  days.  Men,  even  in  my  own  social 
circle,  seem  to  hold  aloof  from  me.  It  is  as  though,"  he 
continued  slowly,  "  people  were  beginning  to  suspect  me 
of  being  connected  in  some  way  with  the  man's  dis- 
appearance." 

Ruff,  who  had  been  making  figures  with  a  pencil  on  the 
edge  of  his  blotting-paper,  suddenly  turned  round.  His 
eyes  flashed  with  a  new  light  as  they  became  fixed  upon 
his  companion's. 

"  And  are  you  not?  "  he  asked,  calmly. 

Sir  Richard  bore  himself  well.  For  a  moment  he  had 
shrunk  back.     Then  he  half  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  Mr.  Ruff !  "  he  said.     "  I  must  protest  —  " 

"  Stop !  " 

Peter  Ruff  used  no  violent  gesture.  Only  his  forefinger 
tapped  the  desk  in  front  of  him.  His  voice  was  as  smooth 
as  velvet. 

"  Tell  me  as  much  or  as  little  as  you  please.  Sir  Rich- 
ard," he  said,  "  but  let  that  little  or  that  much  be  the  truth ! 
On  those  terms  only  I  may  be  able  to  help  you.  You  do 
not  go  to  your  physician  and  expect  him  to  prescribe  to 
you  while  you  conceal  your  symptoms,  or  to  your  lawyer 
for  advice  and  tell  him  half  the  truth.  I  am  not  asking 
for  your  confidence.  I  simply  tell  you  that  you  are  wasting 
your  time  and  mine  if  you  choose  to  withhold  it." 

Sir  Richard  was  silent.  He  recognized  a  new  quality 
in  the  man  —  but  the  truth  was  an  awful  thing  to  tell ! 
He  considered  —  then  told. 

Ruff  briskly  asked  two  questions.     "  In  alluding  to  your 


34     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

heavy  settlement  with  Masters,  you  said  just  now  that 
you  could  not  have  paid  him  —  then." 

"  Quite  so,"  Sir  Richard  admitted.  "  That  is  the  rotten 
part  of  the  whole  affair.  Four  days  later  a  wonderful 
double  came  off  —  one  in  which  we  were  all  interested,  and 
one  which  not  one  of  us  expected.  We  've  drawn  a  con- 
siderable amount  already  from  one  or  two  bookies,  and  I 
believe  even  Masters  owes  us  a  bit  now." 

"  Thank  you,"  Ruff  said.  "  I  think  that  I  know  every- 
thing now.     My  fee  is  five  hundred  guineas." 

Sir  Richard  looked  at  him. 

"What?"  he  exclaimed. 

"  Five  hundred  guineas,"  Ruff  repeated. 

"For  a  consultation?"  Sir  Richard  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  More  than  that,"  he  said.  "  You  are  a  brave  man  in 
your  way.  Sir  Richard  Dyson,  but  you  are  going  about 
now  shivering  under  a  load  of  fear.  It  sits  like  a  devil 
incarnate  upon  your  shoulders.  It  poisons  the  air 
wherever  you  go.  ^rite  your  check.  Sir  Richard,  and 
you  can  leave  that  little  black  devil  in  my  waste-basket. 
You  are  under  my  protection.  Nothing  will  happen  to  you." 

Sir  Richard  sat  like  a  man  mesmerized.  The  little  man  with 
the  amiable  expression  and  the  badly-fitting  suit  was  leaning 
back  in  his  chair,  his  finger-tips  pressed  together,  waiting. 

"  Nothing  will  happen ! "  Sir  Richard  repeated,  in- 
credulously. 

"  Certainly  not.  I  guarantee  you  against  any  incon- 
venience which  might  arise  to  you  from  this  recent 
unfortunate   affair.      Is  n't  that  all  you  want?  " 

"  It 's  all  I  want,  certainly,"  Sir  Richard  declared, 
"  but  I  must  understand  a  little  how  you  propose  to  secure 
my   immunity." 

Ruff  shook  his  head. 


A    NEW    CAREER  35 

"  I  have  my  own  methods,"  he  said.  "  I  can  help  only^ 
those  who  trust  me." 

Sir  Richard  drew  a  cheque-book  from  his  pocket.  "  I 
don't  know  why  I  should  believe  in  you,"  he  said,  as  he 
wrote  the  cheque. 

"  But  you  do,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  smiling.  "  Fortunately 
for  you,  you  do  !  " 

It  was  not  so  easy  to  impart  a  similar  confidence  into  the 
breast  of  Colonel  Dickinson,  with  whom  Sir  Richard  dined 
that  night  tete-a-tete.  Dickinson  was  inclined  to  think 
that  Sir  Richard  had  been  "  had." 

"  You  've  paid  a  ridiculous  fee,"  he  argued,  "  and  all 
that  you  have  in  return  is  the  fellow's  promise  to  see  you 
through.  It  is  n't  like  you  to  part  with  money  so  easily, 
Richard.     Did  he  hypnotize  you?  " 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  Sir  Richard  answered.  "  I  was  n't 
conscious  of  it." 

"  What  sort  of  a  fellow  is  he.''  "  Dickinson  asked. 

Sir  Richard  looked  reflectively  into  his  glass. 

"  He  's  a  vulgar  sort  of  little  Johnny,"  he  said.  "  Looks 
as  though  he  were  always  dressed  in  new  clothes  and 
could  n't  get  used  to  them." 

Three  men  entered  the  room.  Two  remained  in  the 
background.     John  Dory  came  forward  towards  the  table. 

"  Sir  Richard  Dyson,"  he  said,  gravely,  "  I  have  come 
upon  an  unpleasant  errand." 

"  Go  on,"  Sir  Richard  said,  fingering  something  hard 
in  the  inside  pocket  of  his  coat. 

"  I  have  a  warrant  for  your  arrest,"  Dory  continued, 
"  in  connection  with  the  disappearance  of  Job  Masters 
on  Saturday,  the  10th  of  November  last.  I  will  read  the 
terms  of  the  warrant,  if  you  choose.  It  is  my  duty  to 
warn  you  that  anything  you  may  now  say  can  be  used  in 


36     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

evidence  against  you.  This  gentleman,  I  believe,  is  Colonel 
Dickinson?  " 

"  That  is  my  name,  sir,"  Dickinson  answered,  with 
unexpected  fortitude. 

"  I  regret  to  say,"  the  detective  continued,  *'  that  I  have 
also  a  warrant  for  your  arrest  in  connection  with  the  same 
matter." 

Sir  Richard  had  hold  of  the  butt  end  of  his  revolver 
then.  Like  grisly  phantoms,  the  thoughts  chased  one 
another  through  his  brain.  Should  he  shoot  and  end  it  — 
pass  into  black  nothingness  —  escape  disgrace,  but  die 
like  a  rat  in  a  comer.''  His  finger  was  upon  the  trigger. 
Then  suddenly  his  heart  gave  a  great  leap.  He  raised  his 
head  as  though  listening.  Something  flashed  in  his  eyes 
—  something  that  was  almost  like  hope.  There  was  no 
mistaking  that  voice  which  he  had  heard  in  the  hall!  He 
made  a  great  rally. 

"  I  can  only  conclude,"  he  said,  turning  to  the  detective, 
"  that  you  have  made  some  absurd  blunder.  If  you  really 
possess  the  warrants  you  speak  of,  however.  Colonel 
Dickinson  and  I  will  accompany  you  wherever  you  choose." 

Then  the  door  opened  and  Peter  Ruff  walked  in,  fol- 
lowed by  Job  Masters,  whose  head  was  still  bandaged,  and 
who  seemed  to  have  lost  a  little  flesh  and  a  lot  of  color. 
Peter  Ruff  looked  round  apologetically.  He  seemed  sur- 
prised not  to  find  Sir  Richard  Dyson  and  Colonel  Dickinson 
alone.  He  seemed  more  than  ever  surprised  to  recognize 
Dory. 

"  I  trust,"  he  said  smoothly,  "  that  our  visit  is  not  in- 
opportune. Sir  Richard  Dyson,  I  believe?  "  he  continued, 
bowing  — "  my  friend,  Mr.  Masters  here,  has  consulted 
me  as  to  the  loss  of  a  betting  book,  and  we  ventured  to 
call  to  ask  you,  sir,  if  by  any  chance  on  his  recent  visit  to 
your  house  —  " 


A    NEW    CAREER  37 

"  God  in  Heaven,  it 's  Masters ! "  Dyson  exclaimed. 
"It's    Job    Masters!" 

"That's  me,  sir,"  Masters  admitted.  "Mr.  Ruff 
thought  you  might  be  able  to  help  me  find  that  book." 

Sir  Richard  swayed  upon  his  feet.  Then  the  blood 
rushed  once  more  through  his  veins. 

"  Your  book  's  here  in  my  cabinet,  safe  enough,"  he  said. 
"  You  left  it  here  after  our  luncheon  that  day.  Where  on 
earth  have  you  been  to,  man.''  "  he  continued.  "  We  want 
some  money  from  you  over  Myopia." 

"  I  '11  pay  all  right,  sir,"  Masters  answered.  "  Fact  is, 
after  our  luncheon  party  I  'm  afraid  I  got  a  bit  fuddled. 
I  don't  seem  to  remember  much." 

He  sat  down  a  little  heavily.  Peter  Ruff  hastened  to 
the  table  and  took  up  a  glass. 

"  You  will  excuse  me  if  I  give  him  a  little  brandy, 
won't  you,  sir.?"  he  said.  "He's  really  not  quite  fit 
for  getting  about  yet,  but  he  was  worrying  about  his 
book." 

"  Give  him  all  the  brandy  he  can  drink,"  Sir  Richard 
answered. 

The  detective's  face  had  been  a  study.  He  knew  Masters 
well  enough  by  sight  —  there  was  no  doubt  about  his 
identity !  His  teeth  came  together  with  an  angry  little 
click.  He  had  made  a  mistake!  It  was  a  thing  which 
would  be  remembered  against  him  forever !  It  was  as 
bad  as  his  failure  to  arrest  that  young  man  at  Daisy 
Villa. 

"  Your  visit,  Masters,"  Sir  Richard  said,  with  a  curious 
smile  at  the  corners  of  his  lips,  "  is,  in  some  respects,  a 
little  opportune.  About  that  little  matter  we  were  speak- 
ing of,"  he  continued,  turning  towards  the  detective. 

"  We  have  only  to  offer  you  our  apologies,  Sir 
Richard,"  Dory  answered. 

1 4  'i  b  c  \j 


38     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Then  he  crossed  the  room  and  confronted  Peter  Ruff. 

"  Do  I  understand,  sir,  that  your  name  is  Ruff  — 
Peter  Ruff?  "  he  asked. 

"  That  is  my  name,  sir,"  Peter  Ruff  admitted,  pleas- 
antly. "  Yours,  I  believe,  is  Dory.  We  are  likely  to 
come  across  one  another  now  and  then,  I  suppose.  Glad 
to  know  you." 

The  detective  stood  quite  still,  and  there  was  no  geniality 
in  his  face. 

"I  wonder  —  have  we  ever  met  before.?"  he  asked, 
without  removing  his  eyes  from  the  other's  face.  Peter 
Ruff  smiled. 

"  Not  professionally,  at  any  rate,"  he  answered. 
*'  I  know  that  at  Scotland  Yard  you  don't  think 
much  of  us  small  fry,  but  we  find  out  things  some- 
times !  " 

"  Why  did  n't  you  contradict  all  those  rumors  as  to  his 
disappearance.''  "  the  detective  asked,  pointing  to  where 
Job  Masters  was  contentedly  sipping  his  brandy  and 
Water. 

"  I  was  acting  for  my  client,  and  in  my  own  interests," 
replied  Peter.  "  It  was  surely  no  part  of  my  duty  to 
save  you  gentlemen  at  Scotland  Yard  from  hunting  up 
mare's   nests !  " 

John  Dory  went  out,  followed  by  his  men.  Sir  Richard 
took  Peter  Ruff  by  the  arm,  and,  leading  him  to  the 
sideboard,  mixed  him  a  drink. 

"  Peter  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  you  're  a  clever  scoundrel,  but 
you  've  earned  your  five  hundred  guineas.  Hang  it,  you  're 
welcome  to  them !  Is  there  anything  else  I  can  do  for 
you?  " 

Peter  Ruff  raised  his  glass  and  set  it  down  again. 
Once  more  he  eyed  with  admiration  his  client's  well-turned 
out  figure. 


A    NEW    CAREER  39 

"  You  might  give  me  a  letter  to  your  tailors,  Sir 
Richard,"    he    begged. 

Sir  Richard  laughed  outright  —  it  was  some  time  since 
he  had  laughed! 

"  You  shall  have  it,  Peter  Ruff,"  he  declared,  raising 
his  glass  —  "  and  here  's  to  you !  " 


CHAPTER    III 

VINCENT    CAWDOK,    COMMISSION    AGENT 

For  the  second  time  since  their  new  association,  Peter 
Ruff  had  surprised  that  look  upon  his  secretary's  face. 
This  time  he  wheeled  around  in  his  chair  and  addressed  her. 

"  My  dear  Violet,"  he  said,  "  be  frank  with  me.  What 
is  wrong?  " 

Miss  Brown  turned  to  face  her  employer.  Save  for  a 
greater  demureness  of  expression  and  the  extreme  sim- 
plicity of  her  attire,  she  had  changed  very  little  since  she 
had  given  up  her  life  of  comparative  luxury  to  become 
Peter  Ruff's  secretary.  There  was  a  sort  of  personal  ele- 
gance which  clung  to  her,  notwithstanding  her  strenuous 
attempts  to  dress  for  her  part,  except  for  which  she  looked 
precisely  as  a  private  secretary  and  typist  should  look. 
She  even  wore  a  black  bow  at  the  back  of  her  hair. 

"  I  have  not  complained,  have  I  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Do  not  waste  time,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  coldly.  "  Pro- 
ceed." 

"  I  have  not  enough  to  do,"  she  said.  "  I  do  not  under- 
stand why  you  refuse  so  many  cases." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  I  did  not  bring  my  talents  into  this  business,"  he  said, 
"  to  watch  flirting  wives,  to  ascertain  the  haunts  of  gay 
husbands,  or  to  detect  the  pilferings  of  servants." 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     41 

"  Anything  is  better  than  sitting  still,"  she  protested. 

"  I  do  not  agree  with  you,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  I  like 
sitting  still  very  much  indeed  —  one  has  time  to  think.  Is 
there  anything  else?  " 

"  Shall  I  really  go  on?  "  she  asked. 

"  By  all  means,"  he  answered. 

"  I  have  an  idea,"  she  continued,  "  that  you  are  subordi- 
nating your  general  interests  to  your  secret  enmity  —  to 
one  man.  You  are  waiting  until  you  can  find  another  case 
in  which  you  are  pitted  against  him." 

"  Sometimes,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  your  intelligence  sur- 
prises me !  " 

"  I  came  to  you,"  she  continued,  looking  at  him  ear- 
nestly, "  for  two  reasons.  The  personal  one  I  will  not 
touch  upon.  The  other  was  my  love  of  excitement.  I  have 
tried  many  things  in  life,  as  you  know,  Peter,  but  I  have 
seemed  to  carry  always  with  me  the  heritage  of  weariness. 
I  thought  that  my  position  here  would  help  me  to  fight 
against  it." 

"  You  have  seen  me  bring  a  corpse  to  life,"  Peter  Ruff 
reminded  her,  a  little  aggrieved. 

She  smiled. 

"  It  was  a  month  ago,"  she  reminded  him. 

"  I  can't  do  that  sort  of  thing  every  day,"  he  declared. 

"  Naturally,"  she  answered ;  "  but  you  have  refused 
four  cases  within  the  last  five  days." 

Peter  Ruff  whistled  softly  to  himself  for  several  moments. 

"  Seen  anything  of  our  new  neighbor  in  the  flat  above?  " 
he  asked,  with  apparent  irrelevance. 

Miss  Brown  looked  across  at  him  with  upraised  eyebrows. 

*'  I  have  been  in  the  lift  with  him  twice,"  she  answered. 

"  Fancy  his  appearance  ?  "  Ruff  asked,  casually. 

*'  Not  in  the  least !  "  Violet  answered.  "  I  thought  him 
a  vulgar,  offensive  person !  " 


42     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Peter  Ruff  chuckled.     He  seemed  immensely  delighted. 

"  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor  he  calls  himself,  I  believe,"  he 
remarked. 

"  I  have  no  idea,"  Miss  Brown  declared.  The  subject 
did  not  appeal  to  her. 

"  His  name  is  on  a  small  copper  plate  just  over  the 
letter-box,"  Ruff  said.  "  Rather  neat  idea,  by  the  bye. 
He  calls  himself  a  commission  agent,  I  believe." 

Violet  was  suddenly  interested.  She  realized,  after  all, 
that  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor  might  be  a  person  of  some 
importance. 

"What  is  a  commission  agent  .f*  "  she  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

*'  It  might  mean  anything,"  he  declared.  "  Never  trust 
any  one  who  is  not  a  little  more  explicit  as  to  his  profes- 
sion. I  am  afraid  that  this  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor,  for  in- 
stance, is  a  bad  lot." 

*'  I  am  sure  he  is,"  Miss  Brown  declared. 

"  Looks  after  a  pretty  girl,  coughs  in  the  lift  —  all  that 
sort  of  thing,  eh.^  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

She  nodded. 

"  Disgusting !  "  she  exclaimed,  with  emphasis. 

Peter  Ruff  sighed,  and  glanced  at  the  clock.  The  ex- 
istence of  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor  seemed  to  pass  out  of  his 
mind. 

"  It  is  nearly  one  o'clock,"  he  said.  "  Where  do  you 
usually  lunch,  Violet.?  " 

"  It  depends  upon  my  appetite,"  she  answered,  care- 
lessly.    "  Most  often  at  an  A  B  C." 

"  To-day,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  you  will  be  extravagant  — 
at  my  expense." 

"  I  had  a  poor  breakfast,"  Miss  Brown  remarked, 
complacently. 

"  You  will  leave  at  once,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  and  you  will 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     43 

go  to  the  French  Cafe  at  tlie  3Iilan.  Get  a  table  facing 
the  courtyard,  and  towards  the  hotel  side  of  the  room. 
Keep  your  eyes  open  and  tell  me  exactly  what  you  see." 

She  looked  at  him  with  parted  lips.  Her  eyes  were  full 
of  eager  questioning. 

"  Mere  skirmishing,"  Peter  Ruff  continued,  "  but  I  think 
—  yes,  I  think  that  it  may  lead  to  something." 

"  Whom  am  I  to  watch?  "  she  asked. 

"  Any  one  who  looks  interesting,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 
"  For  instance,  if  tliis  person  Vincent  Cawdor  should  be 
about." 

"  He  would  recognize  me !  "  she  declared. 

Peter  Ruff  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  One  must  hold  the  candle,"  he  remarked. 

"  I  decline  to  flirt  with  him,"  she  declared.  "  Nothing 
would  induce  me  to  be  pleasant  to  such  an  odious  creature." 

"  He  will  be  too  busy  to  attempt  anything  of  the  sort. 
Of  course  he  may  not  be  there.  It  may  be  the  merest  fancy 
on  my  part.  At  any  rate,  you  may  rely  upon  it  that  he 
will  not  make  any  overtures  in  a  public  place  like  the  Milan. 
Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor  may  be  a  curious  sort  of  person,  but  I 
do  not  fancy  that  he  is  a  fool !  " 

"  Very  well,"  Miss  Brow^l  said,  "  I  will  go." 

*'  Be  back  soon  after  three,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  I  am 
going  up  to  my  room  to  do  my  exercises." 

"  And  afterwards  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  shall  have  my  lunch  sent  in,"  he  answered.  "  Don't 
hurry  back,  though.  I  shall  not  expect  you  till  a  quarter 
past  three." 

It  was  a  few  minutes  past  that  time  when  Miss  Brown 
returned.  Peter  Ruff  was  sitting  at  his  desk,  looking  as 
though  he  had  never  moved.  He  was  absorbed  by  a  book 
of  patterns  sent  in  by  his  new  tailor,  and  he  only  glanced 
up  when  she  entered  the  room. 


44     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  earnestly,  "  come  in  and  sit  down. 
I  want  to  consult  you.  There  is  a  new  material  here  —  a 
sort  of  mouse-colored  cheviot.  I  wonder  whether  it  would 
suit  me?  " 

Violet  was  looking  very  handsome  and  a  little  flushed. 
She  raised  her  veil  and  came  over  to  his  side. 

"  Put  that  stupid  book  away,  Peter,"  she  said.  "  I  want 
to  tell  3'ou  about  the  Milan" 

He  leaned  back  in  his  chair. 

"  Ah !  "  he  said.  "  I  had  forgotten !  Was  Mr.  Vincent 
Cawdor  there?  " 

"  Yes !  "  she  answered,  still  a  little  breathless.  "  There 
was  some  one  else  there,  too,  in  whom  you  are  still  more 
interested." 

He  nodded. 

"  Go  on,"  he  said. 

"  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor,"  she  continued,  "  came  in  alone. 
He  looked  just  as  objectionable  as  ever,  and  he  stared  at  me 
till  I  nearly  threw  my  wine  glass  at  him." 

"  He  did  not  speak  to  you?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  I  was  afraid  that  he  was  going  to,"  Miss  Brown  said, 
"  but  fortunately  he  met  a  friend  who  came  to  his  table  and 
lunched  with  him." 

"  A  friend,"  Ruff  remarked.  "  Good !  What  was  he 
like?  " 

"  Fair,  slight,  Teutonic,"  Miss  Brown  answered.  "  He 
wore  thick  spectacles,  and  his  mustache  was  positively 
yellow." 

Ruff  nodded. 

"  Go  on,"  he  said. 

"  Towards  the  end  of  luncheon,"  she  continued,  "  an 
American  came  up  to  them." 

"An  American?"  Peter  Ruff  interinipted.  "How  do 
you  know  that?  " 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     45 

Miss  Brown  smiled. 

*'  He  was  clean-shaven  and  he  wore  neat  clothes,"  she 
said.  "  He  talked  with  an  accent  3'ou  could  have  cut  with 
a  knife  and  he  had  a  Baedeker  sticking  out  of  his  pocket. 
After  luncheon,  they  all  three  went  away  to  the  smoking- 
room." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  Anything  else?  "  he  asked. 

The  girl  smiled  triumphantly. 

"  Yes  !  "  she  declared.  "  There  was  something  else  — 
something  which  I  think  you  will  find  interesting.  At  the 
next  table  to  me  there  was  a  man  —  alone.  Can  you  guess 
who  he  was  ?  " 

"  John  Dory,"  Ruff  said,  calmly. 

The  girl  was  disappointed. 

"  You  knew !  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  My  dear  Violet,"  he  said,  "  I  did  not  send  you  there 
on  a  fool's  errand." 

"  There  is  something  doing,  then  ?  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  There  is  likely,"  he  answered,  grimly,  "  to  be  a  great 
deal  doing !  " 

The  two  men  who  stood  upon  the  hill,  and  Peter  Ruff, 
who  lay  upon  his  stomach  behind  a  huge  boulder,  looked 
upon  a  new  thing. 

Far  down  in  the  valley  from  out  of  a  black  shed  —  the 
only  sign  of  man's  handiwork  for  many  miles  —  it  came  — 
something  gray  at  first,  moving  slowly  as  though  being 
pushed  down  a  slight  incline,  then  afloat  in  the  air,  gather- 
ing speed  —  something  between  a  torpedo  with  wings  and 
a  great  prehistoric  insect.  Now  and  then  it  described 
strange  circles,  but  mostly  it  came  towards  them  as  swift 
and  as  true  as  an  arrow  shot  from  a  bow.  The  two  men 
looked  at  one  another  —  the  shorter,  to  whose  cheeks  the 


46     PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Cumberland  winds  had  brought  no  trace  of  color,  gave  vent 
to  a  hoarse  exclamation. 

"  He  's  done  it !  "  he  growled. 

"  Wait !  "  the  other  answered. 

Over  their  heads  the  thing  wheeled,  and  seemed  to  stand 
still  in  the  air.  The  beating  of  the  engine  was  so  faint 
that  Peter  Ruff,  from  behind  the  boulder,  could  hear  all 
that  was  said.  A  man  leaned  out  from  his  seat  —  a  man 
with  wan  cheeks  but  blazing  eyes. 

"  Listen,"  he  said.  "  Take  your  glasses.  There  —  due 
north  —  can  you  see  a  steeple.''  "  ^ 

The  men  turned  their  field-glasses  in  the  direction 
towards  which  the  other  pointed. 

"  Yes  !  "  they  answered. 

"  It  is  sixteen  miles,  as  the  crow  flies,  to  Barnham 
Church  —  thirty-two  miles  there  and  back.     Wait !  " 

He  swung  round,  dived  till  he  seemed  about  to  touch  the 
hillside,  then  soared  upwards  and  straight  away.  Peter 
Ruff  took  out  his  watch.  The  other  two  men  gazed  with 
fascinated  eyes  after  the  disappearing  speck. 

"  If  he  does  it  —  "  the  shorter  one  muttered. 

"'  He  will  do  it !  "  the  other  answered. 

He  was  back  again  before  their  eyes  were  weary  of  watch- 
ing. Peter  Ruff,  from  behind  the  boulder,  closed  his 
watch.  Thirty-tw^o  miles  in  less  than  half  an  hour!  The 
youth  leaned  from  his  seat. 

"  Is  it  enough?  "  he  asked,  hoarsely. 

"  It  is  enough !  "  the  two  men  answered  together.  "  We 
will  come  down." 

The  youth  touched  a  lever  and  the  machine  glided  down 
towards  the  valley,  falling  all  the  while  with  the  effortless 
grace  of  a  parachute.  The  shed  from  which  his  machine 
had  issued  was  midway  down  a  slope,  with  a  short  length 
of  rails  which  ran,  apparently,  through  it.     The  machine 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     47 

seemed  to  hover  for  several  moments  above  the  building, 
then  descended  slowly  on  to  the  rails  and  disappeared  in  the 
shed.  The  two  men  were  already  half-way  down  the  hill. 
Peter  Ruff  rose  from  behind  the  boulder,  stretched  himself 
with  a  sense  of  immense  relief,  and  lit  a  pipe.  As  yet  he 
dared  not  descend.  He  simply  changed  his  hiding  place 
for  a  spot  which  enabled  him  to  command  a  view  of  the 
handful  of  cottages  at  the  back  of  the  hill.  He  had  plenty 
to  think  about.  It  was  a  wonderful  thing  —  this  —  which 
he  had  seen! 

The  youth,  meanwhile,  was  drinking  deep  of  the  poison- 
ous cup.  He  walked  between  the  two  men  —  his  cheeks 
were  flushed,  his  eyes  on  fire. 

"  If  all  the  world  to-day  had  seen  what  we  have  seen," 
the  older  man  was  saying,  "  there  would  be  no  more  talk 
of  Wilbur  Wrights  or  Farmans.  Those  men  are  babies, 
playing  with  their  toys." 

"  INIine  is  the  ideal  principle,"  the  youth  declared.  "  No 
one  else  has  thought  of  it,  no  one  else  has  made  use  of  it. 
Yet  all  the  time  I  am  afraid  —  it  is  so  simple." 

"  Sell  quick,  then,"  the  fair-headed  man  advised.  "  By 
to-morrow  night  I  can  promise  you  fifty  thousand  pounds." 

The  3^outh  stopped.    He  drew  a  deep  breath. 

"  I  shall  sell,"  he  declared.  "  I  need  money.  I  want  to 
live.  Fifty  thousand  pounds  is  enough.  Eleven  weary 
months  I  have  slept  and  toiled  there  in  the  shed." 

"  It  is  finished,"  the  older  man  declared.  "  To-night  you 
shall  come  with  us  to  London.  To-morrow  night  your 
pockets  shall  be  full  of  gold.    It  will  be  a  change  for  you." 

The  youth  sobbed. 

"  God  knows  it  will,"  he  muttered.  "  I  have  n't  two  shil- 
lings in  the  world,  and  I  owe  for  my  last  petrol." 

The  two  men  laughed  heartily.  The  elder  took  a  little 
bundle  of  notes  from  his  pocket  and  handed  them  to  the 
boy. 


48     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "  not  for  another  moment  shall  you 
feel  as  poor  as  that.  Money  will  have  no  value  for  you  in 
the  future.  The  fifty  thousand  pounds  will  only  be  a  start. 
After  that,  you  will  get  royalties.  If  I  had  it,  I  would 
give  you  a  quarter  of  a  million  now  for  your  plans  ;  I  know 
that  I  can  get  you  more." 

The  youth  laughed  hysterically.  They  entered  the  tiny 
inn  and  drank  home-made  wine  —  the  best  they  could  get. 
Then  a  great  car  drew  up  outside,  and  the  older  —  the 
clean-shaven  man,  who  looked  like  an  American  —  hurried 
out,  and  dragging  a  hamper  from  beneath  the  seat  re- 
turned with  a  gold-foiled  bottle  in  his  hand. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "  a  toast !  We  have  one  bottle  left 
—  one  bottle  of  the  best !  " 

"  Champagne !  "  the  youth  cried  eagerly,  holding  out 
his  hand. 

"  The  only  wine  for  the  conquerors,"  the  other  declared, 
pouring  it  out  into  the  thick  tumblers.  "  Drink,  all  of  you, 
to  the  Franklin  Flying  Machine,  to  the  millions  she  will 
earn  —  to  to-morrow  night !  " 

The  youth  drained  his  glass,  watched  it  replenished,  and 
drained  it  again.    Then  they  went  out  to  the  car. 

"  There  is  one  thing  yet  to  be  done,"  he  said.  "  Wait 
here  for  me." 

Tliey  waited  whilst  he  climbed  up  toward  the  shed.  The 
two  men  watched  him.  A  little  group  of  rustics  stood  open- 
mouthed  around  the  great  car.  Then  there  was  a  little 
shout.  From  above  their  heads  came  the  sound  of  a  great 
explosion  —  red  flames  were  leaping  up  from  that  black 
barn  to  the  sky.  The  two  men  looked  at  one  another. 
They  rushed  to  the  hill  and  met  the  youth  descending. 

"  What  the  — -  " 

He  stopped  them. 

"  I  dared  not  leave  it  here,"  he  explained.     "  It  would 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     49 

have  been  madness.  I  am  perfectly  cei'tain  that  I  have 
been  watched  during  the  last  few  dajs.  I  can  build  another 
in  a  week.     I  have  the  plans  in  my  pocket  for  every  part." 

The  older  man  wiped  the  perspiration  from  his  forehead. 

**  You  are  sure  —  that  you  have  the  plans?  "  he  asked. 

The  3''outh  struck  himself  on  the  chest. 

"  They  are  here,"  he  answered,  "  every  one  of  them !  " 

"  Perhaps  3'ou  are  right,  then,"  the  other  man  answered. 
"  It  gave  me  a  turn,  though.  You  are  sure  that  you  can 
make  it  again  in  the  time  you  say.''  " 

"  Of  course !  "  the  youth  answered,  impatiently.  "  Be- 
sides, the  thing  is  so  simple.     It  speaks  for  itself." 

They  climbed  into  the  car,  and  in  a  few  minutes  were 
rushing  away  southwards. 

"  To-morrow  night  —  to-morrow  night  it  all  begins  !  " 
the  youth  continued.  "  I  must  start  with  ready-made 
clothes.  I  '11  get  the  best  I  can,  eat  the  best  I  can,  drink 
wine,  go  to  the  music-halls.     To-morrow  night." 

His  speech  ended  in  a  wail  —  a  strange,  half-stifled  cry 
which  rang  out  with  a  chill,  ghostly  sound  upon  the  black 
silence.  His  face  was  covered  with  a  wet  towel,  a  ghastly 
odor  was  in  his  nostrils,  his  lips  refused  to  utter  any  fur- 
ther sound.  He  lay  back  among  the  cushions,  senseless. 
The  car  slowed  down. 

"  Get  the  papers,  quick !  "  the  elder  man  muttered,  open- 
ing the  youth's  coat.  "  Here  they  are !  Catch  hold,  Dick ! 
My  God!    What's  that.?". 

He  shook  from  head  to  foot.  The  little  fair  man  looked 
at  him  with  contempt. 

"  A  sheep  bell  on  the  moor,"  he  said.  "  Are  you  sure  you 
have  everything.'*  " 

"  Yes  !  "  the  other  muttered. 

They  both  stood  up  and  raised  the  prostrate  form  be- 
tween them.     Below  them  were  the  black  waters  of  the  lake. 


50     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Over  with  him  !  "  the  younger  said.     "  Quick !  " 

Once  more  his  companion  shrank  away. 

"  Listen !  "  he  muttered,  hoarsely. 

They  both  held  their  breaths.  From  somewhere  along 
the  road  behind  came  a  faint  sound  like  the  beating  of  an 
engine. 

"  It 's  a  car !  *'  the  elder  man  exclaimed.  "  Quick !  Over 
with  him !  " 

They  lifted  the  body  of  the  boy,  whose  lips  were  white 
and  speechless  now,  and  threw  him  into  the  water.  With  a 
great  splash  he  disappeared.  They  watched  for  a  moment. 
Only  the  ripples  flowed  away  from  the  place  where  he  had 
sunk.     They  jumped  back  to  their  seats. 

"  There  's  something  close  behind,"  the  older  man  mut- 
tered.    "  Get  on  !    Fast !    Fast !  " 

The  younger  man  hesitated. 

"  Perhaps,"  he  said  slowly,  "  it  would  be  better  to  wait 
and  see  who  it  is  coming  up  behind.  Our  young  friend 
there  is  safe.  The  current  has  him,  and  the  tarn  is 
bottomless." 

There  was  a  moment's  indecision  —  a  moment  which  was 
to  count  for  much  in  the  lives  of  three  men.  Then  the  elder 
one's  counsels  prevailed.  They  crept  away  down  the  hill, 
smoothly  and  noiselessly.  Behind  them,  the  faint  throbbing 
grew  less  and  less  distinct.  Soon  they  heard  it  no  more. 
They  drove  into  the  dawn  and  through  the  long  day. 

Side  by  side  on  one  of  the  big  leather  couches  in  the  small 
smoking-room  of  the  Milan  Hotel,  Mr.  James  P.  Rounceby 
and  his  friend  Mr.  Richard  Marnstam  sat  whispering  to- 
gether. It  was  nearly  two  o'clock,  and  they  were  alone  in  the 
room.  Some  of  the  lights  had  been  turned  out.  The  roar 
of  life  in  the  streets  without  had  ceased.  It  was  an  uneasy 
hour  for  those  whose  consciences  were  not  wholly  at  rest ! 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     51 

The  two  men  were  in  evening  dress  —  Rounceby  in  din- 
ner coat  and  black  tie,  as  befitted  his  role  of  traveling 
American.  The  glasses  in  front  of  them  were  only  half- 
filled,  and  had  remained  so  for  the  last  hour.  Their  con- 
versation had  been  nervous  and  spasmodic.  It  was  obvious 
that  they  were  waiting  for  some  one. 

Three  o'clock  struck  by  the  little  timepiece  on  the 
mantel  shelf.  A  little  exclamation  of  a  profane  nature 
broke  from  Rounceby's  lips.  He  leaned  toward  his 
companion. 

"  Say,"  he  muttered,  in  a  rather  tliick  undertone,  "  how 
about  this  fellow  Vincent  Cawdor.''  You  have  n't  any 
doubts  about  him,  I  suppose.''  He  's  on  the  square,  all 
right,  eh.^*  " 

Marnstam  wet  his  lips  nervously. 

"  Cawdor  's  all  right,"  he  said.  "  I  had  it  direct  from 
headquarters  at  Paris.    What  are  you  uneasy  about,  eh.'^  " 

Rounceby  pointed  towards'  the  clock. 

"  Do  you  see  the  time  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  He  said  he  'd  be  late,"  Marnstam  answered. 

Rounceby  put  his  hand  to  his  forehead  and  found  it 
moist. 

"  It  's  been  a  silly  game,  all  along,"  he  muttered. 
"  We  'd  better  have  brought  the  young  ass  up  here  and 
jostled  him!  " 

"  Not  so  easy,"  Marnstam  answered.  "  These  young 
fools  have  a  way  of  turning  obstinate.  He  'd  have  chucked 
us,  sure.     Anyhow,  he  's  safer  where  he  is." 

They  relapsed  once  more  into  silence.  A  storm  of  rain 
beat  upon  the  window.  Rounceby  glanced  up.  It  was  as 
black  out  there  as  were  the  waters  of  that  silent  tarn !  The 
man  shivered  as  the  thought  struck  him.  Marnstam,  who 
had  no  nerves,  twirled  his  mustache  and  watched  his  com- 
panion with  wonder. 


52     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  look  as  thou,gh  you  saw  a  ghost,"  he  remarked. 

"  Perhaps  I  do !  "  Rounceby  growled. 

"  You  had  better  finish  your  drink,  my  dear  fellow," 
Marnstam  advised.     "  Afterwards  —  " 

Suddenly  he  stiffened  into  attention.  He  laid  his  hand 
upon  his  companion's  knee. 

"  Listen !  "  he  said.     "  There  is  some  one  coming." 

They  leaned  a  little  forward.  The  swing  doors  were 
opened.  A  girl's  musical  laugh  rang  out  from  the  cor- 
ridor. Tall  and  elegant,  with  her  black  lace  skirt  trailing 
upon  the  floor,  her  left  hand  resting  upon  the  shoulder 
of  the  man  into  whose  ear  she  was  whispering,  and  whom 
she  led  straight  to  one  of  the  writing  tables.  Miss  Violet 
Brown  swept  into  the  room.  On  her  right,  and  nearest  to 
the  two  men,  was  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor. 

"  Now  you  can  go  and  talk  to  your  friends !  "  she  ex- 
claimed, lightly.  "  I  am  going  to  make  Victor  listen  to 
me." 

Cawdor  left  his  two  companions  and  sank  on  to  the  couch 
by  Rounceby's  side.  The  young  man,  with  his  opera  hat 
still  on  his  head,  and  the  light  overcoat  which  he  had  been 
carrying  on  the  floor  by  his  side,  was  seated  before  the 
writing  table  with  his  back  to  them.  Miss  Brown  was  lean- 
ing over  him,  with  her  hand  upon  the  back  of  his  chair. 
They  were  out  of  hearing  of  the  other  three  men. 

"  Well,  Rounceby,  my  friend,"  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor  re- 
marked, cheerfully,  "you're  having  a  late  sitting,  eh.''" 

"  We  've  been  waiting  for  you,  you  fool !  "  Rounceby 
answered.  "  What  on  earth  are  you  thinking  about,  bring- 
ing a  crowd  like  this  about  with  you,  eh.^  " 

Cawdor  smiled,  reassuringly. 

"  Don't  you  won-y,"  he  said,  in  a  lower  tone.  "  I  know 
my  way  in  and  out  of  the  ropes  here  better  than  you  can 
teach  me.     A  bier  hotel  like  this  is  the  safest  and  the  most 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     53 

dangerous  place  in  the  world  —  just  how  you  choose  to 
make  it.  You  've  got  to  bluff  'em  all  the  time.  That  's 
why  I  brought  the  young  lady  —  particular  friend  of 
mine  —  real  nice  girl,  too  !  " 

"  And  the  young  man.''  "  Rounceby  asked,  suspiciously. 

Cawdor  grew  more  serious. 

"  That 's  Captain  Lowther,"  he  said  softly  —  "  private 
secretary  to  Colonel  Dean,  who  's  the  chief  of  the  aeronaut 
department  at  Aldershot.  He  has  a  draft  in  his  pocket 
for  twenty  thousand  pounds.  It  is  yours  if  he  is  satisfied 
with  the  plans." 

"  Twenty  thousand  pounds !  "  Marnstam  said,  thought- 
fully. "  It  is  very  little  —  very  little  indeed  for  the  risks 
which  we  have  run !  " 

Cawdor  moved  his  place  and  sat  between  the  men.  He 
laid  a  hand  upon  Marnstam's  shoulder  —  another  on 
Rounceby's  knee. 

"  My  dear  friends,"  he  said,  impressively,  "  if  you  could 
have  built  a  model,  or  conducted  these  negotiations  in  the 
usual  way,  you  might  have  asked  a  million.  As  it  is,  I 
think  I  am  the  only  man  in  England  who  could  have  dealt 
with  this  matter  —  so  satisfactorily." 

Rounceby  glanced  suspiciously  at  the  young  man  to 
whom  Miss  Brown  was  still  devoting  the  whole  of  her 
attention. 

"  Why  don't  he  come  out  and  talk  like  a  man .''  "  he 
asked.  "  What  's  the  idea  of  his  sitting  over  there  with 
his  back  to  us.^*  " 

"  I  want  him  never  to  see  your  faces  —  to  deal  only  with 
me,"  Cawdor  explained.  "  Remember  that  he  is  in  an 
official  position.  The  money  he  is  going  to  part  with  is 
secret  service  money." 

The  two  men  were  beg-inning:  to  be  more  reassured. 
Rounceby  slowly  produced  a  roll  of  oilskin  from  his  pocket. 


54     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  He  '11  look  at  them  as  he  sits  there,"  he  insisted. 
"  There  must  be  no  copying  or  making  notes,  mind." 

Cawdor  smiled  in  a  superior  fashion. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  he  said,  "  you  are  dealing  with  the 
emissary  of  a  government  —  not  one  of  your  own  sort." 

Rounceby  glanced  at  his  companion,  who  nodded.  Then 
he  handed  over  the  plans. 

"  Tell  him  to  look  sharp,"  he  said.  "  It 's  not  so  late 
but  that  there  may  be  people  in  here  yet." 

Cawdor  crossed  the  room  with  the  plans,  and  laid  them 
down  before  the  writing  table.  Rounceby  rose  to  his  feet 
and  lit  a  cigar.  Marnstam  walked  to  the  further  window 
and  back  again.  They  stood  side  by  side.  Rounceby's  whole 
frame  seemed  to  have  stiffened  with  some  new  emotion. 

"  There  's  something  wrong,  Jim,"  Marnstam  whispered 
softly  in  his  ear.  "  You  've  got  the  old  lady  in  your 
pocket.''  " 

"  Yes !  "  Rounceby  answered  thickly,  "  and,  by  Heavens, 
I  'm  going  to  use  it !  " 

"  Don't  shoot  unless  it 's  the  worst,"  Marnstam  coun- 
seled. "  I  shall  go  out  of  that  window,  into  the  tree,  and 
run  for  the  river.  But  bluff  first,  Jim  —  bluff  for  your 
life !  " 

There  were  swinging  doors  leading  into  the  room  from 
the  hotel  side,  and  a  small  door  exactly  opposite  which  led 
to  the  residential  part  of  the  place.  Both  of  these  doors 
were  opened  at  precisely  the  same  moment.  Through  the 
former  stepped  two  strong-looking  men  in  long  overcoats, 
and  with  the  unmistakable  appearance  of  policemen  in 
plain  clothes.  Through  the  latter  came  John  Dory !  He 
walked  straight  up  to  the  two  men.  It  spoke  volumes  for 
his  courage  that,  knowing  their  characters  and  believing 
them  to  be  in  desperate  straits,  he  came  unarmed. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  hold  warrants  for  your  arrest. 


VINCENT  CAWDOR,   COMMISSION  AGENT     55 

I  will  not  trouble  you  with  your  aliases.  You  are  known 
to-day,  I  believe,  as  James  Rounceby  and  Richard  Marn- 
stam.     Will  you  come  quietly?  " 

Marnstam's  expression  was  one  of  bland  and  beautiful 
surprise. 

"  My  dear  sir,"  he  said,  edging,  however,  a  little  toward 
the  window  —  "you  must  be  joking!  What  is  the 
charge?  " 

"  You  are  charged  with  the  wilful  murder  of  a  young 
man  named  Yictor  Franklin,"  answered  Dory.  "  His  body 
was  recovered  from  Longthorp  Tarn  this  afternoon.  You 
had  better  say  nothing.  Also  with  the  theft  of  certain 
papers  known  to  have  been  in  his  possession." 

Now  it  is  possible  that  at  this  precise  moment  Marnstam 
would  have  made  his  spring  for  the  window  and  Rounceby 
his  running  fight  for  liberty.  The  hands  of  both  men  were 
upon  their  revolvers,  and  John  Dory's  life  was  a  thing  of 
no  account.  But  at  this  juncture  a  thing  happened.  There 
were  in  the  room  the  two  policemen  guarding  the  swing 
doors,  and  behind  them  the  pale  faces  of  a  couple  of  night 
porters  looking  anxiously  in.  Vincent  Cawdor  and  Miss 
Brown  were  standing  side  by  side,  a  little  in  the  back- 
ground, and  the  young  man  who  had  been  their  companion 
had  risen  also  to  his  feet.  As  though  with  some  intention  of 
intervening,  he  moved  a  step  forward,  almost  in  line  with 
Dory.  Rounceby  saw  him,  and  a  new  fear  gripped  him  by 
the  heart.  He  shrank  back,  his  fingers  relaxed  their  hold 
of  his  weapon,  the  sweat  was  hot  upon  his  forehead.  Marn- 
stam, though  he  seemed  for  a  moment  stupefied,  realized 
the  miracle  which  had  happened  and  struck  boldly  for  his 
own. 

"  If  this  is  a  joke,"  he  said,  "  it  strikes  me  as  being  a 
particularly  bad  one.  I  should  like  to  know,  sir,  how  you 
dare  to  come  into  this  room  and  charge  me  and  my  friend 


56     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

—  Mr.  Rounceby  —  with  being  concerned  in  the  murder 
of  a  young  man  who  is  even  now  actually  standing  by  your 
side." 

John  Dory  started  back.  He  looked  with  something  like 
apprehension  at  the  youth  to  whom  Marnstam  pointed. 

"  My  name  is  Victor  Franklin,"  that  young  man  de- 
clared.    "  What  's  aU  this  about.?  " 

Dory  felt  the  ground  give  beneath  his  feet.  Neverthe- 
less, he  set  his  teeth  and  fought  for  his  hand. 

"  You  say  that  your  name  is  Victor  Franklin.''  "  he  asked. 

"  Certainly !  " 

"  You  are  the  inventor  of  a  flying  machine.''  " 

"  I  am." 

"  You  were  in  Westmoreland  with  these  two  men  a  few 
days*  ago  ?  " 

"  I  was,"  the  young  man  admitted. 

"  You  left  the  village  of  Scawton  in  a  motor  car  with 
them.?  " 

"  Yes !    We  quarreled  on  the  way,  and  parted." 

"  You  were  robbed  of  nothing.?  " 

Victor  Franklin  smiled. 

"  Certainly  not,"  he  answered.  "  I  had  nothing  worth 
stealing  except  my  plans,  and  they  are  in  my  pocket 
now." 

There  was  a  few  moments'  intense  silence.  Dory  wheeled 
suddenly  round,  and  looked  to  where  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor 
had  been  standing. 

"  Where  is  Mr.  Cawdor.?  "  he  asked,  shai-ply. 

"  The  gentleman  with  the  gray  mustache  left  a  few  sec- 
onds ago,"  one  of  the  men  at  the  door  said. 

Dory  was  very  pale. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  have  to  offer  you  my  apolo- 
gies. I  have  apparently  been  deceived"  by  some  false  in- 
formation.    The  charge  is  withdrawn." 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     57 

He  turned  on  his  heel  and  left  the  room.  The  two 
policemen  followed  him. 

"  Keep  them  under  observation,"  Dory  ordered  shortly, 
"  but  I  am  afraid  this  fellow  Cawdor  has  sold  me." 

He  found  a  hansom  outside,  and  sprang  into  it. 

"  Number  27,  Southampton  Row,"  he  ordered. 

Rounceby  and  his  partner  were  alone  in  the  little  smok- 
ing-room. The  former  was  almost  inarticulate.  The  night 
porter  brought  them  brandy,  and  both  men  drank. 

"  We  've  got  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  this,  Marnstam," 
Mr.  Rounceby  muttered. 

Mr.  Marnstam  was  thinking. 

"  Do  you  remember  that  sound  through  the  darkness," 
he  said  — "  the  beating  of  an  engine  way  back  on  the 
road.?  " 

"  What  of  it.'*  "  Rounceby  demanded. 

"  It  was  a  motor  bicycle,"  Marnstam  said  quietly.  "  I 
thought  so  at  the  time." 

"  Supposing  some  one  followed  us  and  pulled  him  out," 
Rounceby  said,  hoarsely,  "  why  are  we  treated  like  this .'' 
I  tell  you  we  've  been  made  fools  of !  We  've  been  treated 
like  children  —  not  even  to  be  punished !  We  '11  have  the 
truth  somehow  out  of  that  devil  Cawdor !     Come !  " 

They  made  their  way  to  the  courtyard  and  found  a  cab. 

"  Number  27,  Southampton  Row !  "  they  ordered. 

They  reached  their  destination  some  time  before  Dory, 
whose  horse  fell  down  in  the  Strand,  and  who  had  to  walk. 
They  ascended  to  the  fourth  floor  of  the  building  and  rang 
the  bell  of  Vincent  Cawdor's  room  —  no  answer.  They 
plied  the  knocker  —  no  result.  Rounceby  peered  through 
the  key-hole. 

**  He  has  n't  come  home  yet,"  he»remarked.  "  There  is 
no  light  anywhere  in  the  place." 

The  door  of  a  flat  across  the  passage  was  quietly  opened. 


58     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Mr.  Peter  Ruif,  in  a  neat  black  smoking  suit  and  slippers, 
and  holding  a  pipe  in  his  hand,  looked  out. 

"  Excuse  me,  gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  but  I  do  not  think 
that  Mr.  Cawdor  is  in.  He  went  out  early  this  evening, 
and  I  have  not  heard  him  return." 

The  two  men  turned  away. 

"  We  are  much  obliged  to  you,  sir,"  Mr.  Marnstam  said. 

"  Can  I  give  him  any  message  .^^  "  Peter  Ruff  asked,  po- 
litely. "  We  generally  see  something  of  one  another  in  the 
morning." 

"  You  can  tell  him  —  "  Rounceby  began. 

"  No  message,  thanks  !  "  Marnstara  interrupted.  "  We 
shall  probably  run  across  him  ourselves  to-morrow." 

John  Dory  was  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  hour  late.  After 
his  third  useless  summons,  Mr.  Peter  Ruff  presented  him- 
self again. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  said,  "  you  will  not  find  my  neighbor 
at  home.  There  have  been  several  people  inquiring  for  him 
to-night,  without  any  result." 

John  Dory  came  slowly  across  the  landing. 

"  Good  evening,  Mr.  Ruff !  "  he  said. 

"  Why,  it  's  Mr.  Dory !  "  Peter  Ruff  declared.  "  Come 
in,  do,  and  have  a  drink." 

John  Dory  accepted  the  invitation,  and  his  eyes  were 
busy  in  that  little  sitting-room  during  the  few  minutes 
which  it  took  his  host  to  mix  that  whiskey  and  soda. 

"  Nothing  wrong  with  our  friend  opposite,  I  hope?  " 
Peter  Ruff  asked,  jerking  his  head  across  the  landing. 

"  I  hope  not,  Mr.  Ruff,"  John  Dory  said.  "  No  doubt 
in  the  morning  he  will  be  able  to  explain  everything. 
I  must  say  that  I  should  like  to  see  him  to-night, 
though." 

"  He  may  turn  up  yet,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked,  cheerfully. 
^'  He  's  like  myself  —  a  late  bird." 


VINCENT   CAWDOR,   COMMISSION   AGENT     59 

"  I  fear  not,"  Dory  answered,  dryly.  "  Nice  rooms  you 
have  here,  sir.     Just  a  sitting-room  and  bedroom,  eh?  " 

Peter  Ruff  stood  up  and  threw  open  the  door  of  the 
inner  apartment. 

"  That 's  so,"  he  answered.  "  Care  to  have  a  look 
round.''  " 

The  detective  did  look  round,  and  pretty  thoroughly. 
As  soon  as  he  was  sure  that  there  was  no  one  concealed 
upon  the  premises,  he  drank  his  whiskey  and  soda  and  went. 

"  I  '11  look  in  again  to  see  Cawdor,"  he  remarked  —  "  to- 
morrow, perhaps,  or  the  next  day." 

"  I  '11  let  him  know  if  I  see  him  about,"  Peter  Ruff  de- 
clared. "  Sorry  the  lift 's  stopped.  Three  steps  to  the 
left  and  straight  on.     Good-night !  " 

Miss  Brown  arrived  early  the  following  morning,  and 
was  disposed  to  be  inquisitive. 

"  I  should  hke  to  know,"  she  said,  "  exactly  what  has  be- 
come of  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor." 

Peter  Ruff  took  her  upstairs.  There  was  a  little  mound 
of  ashes  in  the  grate. 

She  nodded. 

"  I  imagined  that,"  she  said.  "  But  why  did  you  send 
me  out  to  watch  yourself.''  " 

"  My  dear  Violet,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  "  there  is  no 
man  in  the  world  to-day  who  is  my  equal  in  the  art  of  dis- 
guising himself.  At  the  same  time,  I  wanted  to  know 
whether  I  could  deceive  you.  I  wanted  to  be  quite  sure  that 
my  study  of  Mr.  Vincent  Cawdor  was  a  safe  one.  I  took 
those  rooms  in  his  name  and  in  his  own  person.  I  do  not 
think  that  it  occurred  even  to  our  friend  John  Dory  to  con- 
nect us  in  his  mind." 

"  Very  well,"  she  went  on.  "  Now  tell  me,  please,  what 
took  you  up  to  Westmoreland.''  " 


6o     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  followed  Rounceby  and  Marnstam,"  he  answered, 
"  I  knew  them  when  I  was  abroad,  studying  crime  —  I 
could  tell  you  a  good  deal  about  both  those  imen  if  it  were 
worth  while  —  and  I  knew,  when  they  hired  a  big  motor 
car  and  engaged  a  crook  to  drive  it,  that  they  were  worth 
following.  I  saw  the  trial  of  the  flying  machine,  and 
when  they  started  off  with  young  Franklin,  I  followed 
on  a  motor  bicycle.  I  fished  him  out  of  the  tarn  where  they 
left  him  for  dead,  brought  him  on  to  London,  and  made  my 
own  terms  with  him." 

"  What  about  the  body  which  was  found  in  the  Long- 
thorp  Tarn  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  had  that  telegram  sent  myself,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 

She  looked  at  him  severely. 

"  You  went  out  of  your  way  to  make  a  fool  of  John 
Dory !  "  she  said,  frowning  at  him. 

"  That  I  admit,"  he  answered. 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  she  continued,  "  that  that,  after  all, 
has  been  the  chief  object  of  the  whole  affair.  I  do  not  see 
that  we  —  that  is  the  firm  —  profit  in  the  least." 

Peter  Ruff  chuckled. 

"  We  've  got  a  fourth  share  in  the  Franklin  Flying  Ma- 
chine," he  answered,  "  and  I  'm  hanged  if  I  'd  sell  it  for  a 
hundred  thousand  pounds." 

"  You  've  taken  advantage  of  that  young  man's  grati- 
tude," she  declared. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  I  earned  the  money,"  he  answered. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE    INDISCRETION    OF    LETTY    SHAW 

Amidst  a  storm  of  whispered  criticisms,  the  general 
opinion  was  that  Letty  Shaw  was  a  silly  little  fool  who 
ought  to  have  known  better.  When  she  had  entered  the 
restaurant  a  few  minutes  before  midnight,  followed  by 
Austen  Abbott,  every  one  looked  to  see  a  third  person 
following  them.  No  third  person,  however,  appeared. 
Gustav  himself  conducted  them  to  a  small  table  laid  for 
two,  covered  with  pink  roses,  and  handed  his  fair  client 
the  menu  of  a  specially  ordered  supper.  There  was  no 
gainsaying  the  fact  that  Letty  and  her  escort  proposed 
supping  alone ! 

The  Cafe  at  the  Milan  was,  without  doubt,  the  fashion- 
able rendezvous  of  the  moment  for  those  ladies  connected 
with  the  stage  who,  after  their  performance,  had  not  the 
time  or  the  inclination  to  make  the  conventional  toilet 
demanded  by  the  larger  restaurants.  Letty  Shaw,  being 
one  of  the  principal  ornaments  of  the  musical  comedy 
stage,  was  well  known  to  every  one  in  the  room.  There 
was  scarcely  a  person  there  who  within  the  last  fortnight 
had  not  found  an  opportunity  of  congratulating  her  upon 
her  engagement  to  Captain  the  Honorable  Brian  Sothcrst. 
Sotherst  was  rich,  and  one  of  the  most  popular  young  men 
about  town.  Letty  Shaw,  although  she  had  had  one  or 
two  harmless  flirtations,  was  well  known  as  a  self-respecting 


62     PETER    RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

and  hard-working  young  actress  who  loved  her  work,  and 
against  whom  no  one  had  ever  had  a  word  to  say.  Con- 
sequently, the  shock  was  all  the  greater  when,  within  a 
fortnight  of  her  engagement,  she  was  thus  to  be  seen 
openly  supping  alone  with  the  most  notorious  woman 
hunter  about  town  —  a  man  of  bad  reputation,  a  man,  too, 
towards  whom  Sotherst  was  known  to  have  a  special 
aversion.  Nothing  but  a  break  with  Sotherst  or  a  fit  of 
temporary  insanity  seemed  to  explain,  even  inadequately, 
the  situation. 

Her  best  friend  —  the  friend  who  knew  her  and  believed 
in  her  —  rose  to  her  feet  and  came  sailing  down  the  room. 
She  nodded  gayl}^  to  Abbott,  whom  she  hated,  and  whom 
she  had  not  recognized  for  years,  and  laid  her  hand  upon 
Letty's  arm. 

"  Where  's  Brian  ?  "  she  asked. 

Letty  shrugged  her  shoulders  —  it  was  not  altogether 
a  natural  gesture. 

"  On  duty  to-night,"  she  answered. 

Her  best  friend  paused  for  a  moment. 

"  Come  over  and  join  our  party,  both  of  you,"  she  said. 
"Dicky  Pennell 's  here  and  Gracie  Marsh  —  just  landed. 
They  'd  love  to  meet  you." 

Letty  shook  her  head  slowly.  There  was  a  look  in  her 
face  which  even  her  best  friend  did  not  understand. 

"  I  'm  afraid  that  we  can't  do  that,"  she  said.  "  I  am 
Mr.  Abbott's  guest." 

"  And  to-night,"  Austen  Abbott  intervened,  looking  up 
at  the  woman  who  stood  between  them,  "  I  am  not  disposed 
to  share  Miss  Siiaw  with  anybody." 

Her  best  friend  could  do  no  more  than  shake  her  head 
and  go  away.  The  two  were  left  alone  for  the  rest  of  the 
evening.  When  they  departed  together,  people  who  knew 
felt  that  a  whiff  of  tragedy  had  passed  through  the  room. 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     63 

Nobody  understood  —  or  pretended  to  understand.  Even 
before  her  engagement,  Letty  had  never  been  known  to 
sup  alone  with  a  man.  That  she  should  do  so  now,  and 
with  this  particular  man,  was  preposterous ! 

"  Something  will  come  of  it,"  her  best  friend  murmured, 
sadly,  as  she  watched  Austen  Abbott  help  his  companion 
on  with  her  cloak. 

Something  did! 

Peter  Ruff  rose  at  his  accustomed  time  the  following 
morning,  and  attired  himself,  if  possible,  with  more  than 
his  usual  care.  He  wore  the  gray  suit  which  he  had  care- 
fully put  out  the  night  before,  but  he  hesitated  long 
between  the  rival  appeals  of  a  red  tie  with  white  spots  and 
a  plain  mauve  one.  He  finally  chose  the  latter,  finding 
that  it  harmonized  more  satisfactorily  with  his  socks,  and 
after  a  final  survey  of  himself  in  the  looking-glass,  he  en- 
tered the  next  room,  where  his  coffee  was  set  out  upon  a 
small  round  table  near  the  fire,  together  with  his  letters 
and  newspapers. 

Peter  Ruff  was,  after  all,  like  the  rest  of  us,  a  creature 
of  habit.  He  made  an  invariable  rule  of  glancing  through 
the  newspapers  before  he  paid  any  regard  at  all  to  his 
letters  or  his  breakfast.  In  the  absence  of  anything  of  a 
particularly  sensational  character,  he  then  opened  his 
letters  in  leisurely  fashion,  and  went  back  afterwards  to 
the  newspaper  as  he  finished  his  meal.  This  morning,  how- 
ever, both  his  breakfast  and  letters  remained  for  some  time 
untouched.  The  first  paragraph  which  caught  his  eye 
as  he  shook  open  the  Daily  Telegraph  'was  sufiiciently 
absorbing.     There  it  was  in  great  black  type: 

TERRIBLE    TRAGEDY    IN    THE    FLAT    OF    A    WELL-KNOWN 

ACTRESS  !      AUSTEN  ABBOTT  SHOT  DEAD !      ARREST 

OF    CAPTAIN    SOTHERST 


64     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Beyond  the  inevitable  shock  which  is  always  associated 
with  the  taking  of  life,  and  the  unusual  position  of  the 
people  concerned  in  it,  there  was  little  in  the  brief  account 
of  the  incident  to  excite  the  imagination.  A  policeman 
on  the  pavement  outside  the  flat  in  which  Miss  Shaw  and 
her  mother  lived  fancied  that  he  heard,  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  report  of  a  revolver  shot.  As  nothing 
further  transpired,  and  as  the  sound  was  very  indistinct, 
he  did  not  at  once  enter  the  building,  but  kept  it,  so  far 
as  possible,  under  observation.  About  twenty  minutes 
later,  a  young  gentleman  in  evening  dress  came  out  into  the 
street,  and  the  policeman  noticed  at  once  that  he  was  carry- 
ing a  small  revolver,  which  he  attempted  to  conceal.  The 
constable  thereupon  whistled  for  his  sergeant,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  young  gentleman  —  who  made  no  effort  to 
escape  —  ascended  to  Miss  Shaw's  rooms,  where  the  body 
of  Austen  Abbott  was  discovered  lying  upon  the  threshold 
of  the  sitting-room  with  a  small  bullet  mark  through  the 
forehead.  The  inmates  of  the  house  were  aroused  and  a 
doctor  sent  for.  The  deceased  man  was  identified  as  Austen 
Abbott  —  a  well-known  actor  —  and  the  man  under  arrest 
gave  his  name  at  once  as  Captain  the  Honorable  Brian 
Sotherst. 

Peter  Ruff  sighed  as  he  laid  down  the  paper.  The 
case  seemed  to  him  perfectly  clear,  and  his  sympathies  were 
altogether  with  the  young  officer  who  had  taken  the  law 
into  his  own  hands.  He  knew  nothing  of  Miss  Letty  Shaw, 
and,  consequently,  did  her,  perhaps,  less  than  justice  in 
his  thoughts.  Of  Austen  Abbott,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
knew  a  great  deal  —  and  nothing  of  good.  It  was  absurd, 
after  all,  that  any  one  should  be  punished  for  killing  such 
a  brute ! 

He  descended,  a  few  minutes  later,  to  his  office,  and  found 
Miss  BroM^n  busy  arranging  a  bowl  of  violets  upon  his  desk. 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     65 

"  Is  n't  it  horrible?  "  she  cried,  as  he  entered,  carrying 
a  bundle  of  papers  under  his  arm.  "  I  never  have  had 
such  a  shock !  " 

"  Do  you  know  any  of  them,  then?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked, 
straightening  his  tie  in  the  mirror. 

"  Of  course !  "  she  answered.  "  Why,  I  was  in  the  same 
company  as  Letty  Shaw  for  a  year.  I  was  at  the  Milan, 
too,  last  night.  Letty  was  there  having  supper  alone  with 
Austen  Abbott.  We  all  said  that  there  'd  be  trouble,  but  of 
course  we  never  dreamed  of  this !  Is  n't  there  any  chance 
for  him,  Peter?     Can't  he  get  off?  " 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  I  'm  afraid  not,"  he  answered.  "  They  may  be  able  to 
bring  evidence  of  a  quarrel  and  reduce  it  to  manslaughter, 
but  what  you  've  just  told  me  about  this  supper  party 
makes  it  all  the  worse.  It  will  come  out  in  the  evidence,  of 
course." 

"  Captain  Sotherst  is  such  a  dear,"  Miss  Brown 
declared,  "  and  so  good-looking !  And  as  for  that 
brute  Austen  Abbott,  he  ought  to  have  been  shot  long 
ago !  " 

Peter  Ruff  seated  himself  before  his  desk  and  hitched  up 
his  trousers  at  the  knees. 

"  No  doubt  you  are  right,  Violet,"  he  said,  "  but  people 
go  about  these  things  so  foolishly.  To  me  it  is  simply 
exasperating  to  reflect  how  little  use  is  made  of  persons 
such  as  myself,  whose  profession  in  life  it  is  to  arrange 
these  little  matters.  Take  the  present  case,  for  example. 
Captain  Sotherst  had  only  to  lay  these  facts  before  me, 
and  Austen  Abbott  was  a  ruined  man.  I  could  have  ar- 
ranged the  affair  for  him  in  half-a-dozen  different  ways. 
Whereas  now  it  must  be  a  life  for  a  life  —  the  life  of  an 
honest  young  English  gentleman  for  that  of  a  creature 
who   should   have   been   kicked   out   of   the   world   as    ver- 


66     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

min !  .  .  .  I  have  some  letters  to  give  you,  Violet,  if  you 
please." 

She  swung  round  in  her  chair  reluctantly. 

"  I  can't  help  thinking  of  that  poor  young  fellow,"  she 
said,  with  a  sigh. 

"  Sentiment  after  office  hours,  if  you  please ! "  said 
Peter. 

Then  there  came  a  knock  at  the  door. 

His  visitor  lifted  her  veil,  and  Peter  Ruff  recognized 
her  immediately. 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you,  Lady  Mary  ?  "  he  asked. 

She  saw  the  recognition  in  his  eyes  even  before  he  spoke, 
and  wondered  at  it. 

"  You  know  me?  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  I  know  most  people,"  he  answered,  dryly ;  "  it  is  part 
of  my  profession." 

"  Tell  me  —  you  are  Mr.  Peter  Ruff,"  she  said,  "  the 
famous  specialist  in  the  detection  of  crime.'*  You  know 
that  Brian  Sotherst  is  my  brother.''  " 

*'  Yes,"  he  said,  "  I  know  it !  I  am  sorry  —  very  sorry, 
indeed." 

He  handed  her  a  chair.  She  seated  herself  with  a  little 
tightening  of  the  lips. 

"  I  want  more  than  sympathy  from  you,  Mr.  Ruff," 
she  warned  him.     "  I  want  your  help." 

"  It  is  my  profession,"  he  admitted,  "  but  your 
brother's  case  makes  intervention  difficult,  does  it 
not.?  " 

"  You  mean  —  "  she  began. 

"  Your  brother  himself  does  not  deny  his  guilt,  I 
understand." 

"  He  has  not  denied  it,"  she  answered  —  "  very  likely  he 
will  not  do  so  before  the  magistrate  —  but  neither   has 


THE  INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     67 

he  admitted  it.  Mr.  Ruff,  you  are  such  a  clever  man. 
Can't  you  see  the  truth .?  " 

Peter  Ruff  looked  at  her  steadily  for  several  moments. 

"  Lady  Mary,"  he  said,  "  I  can  see  what  you  are  going 
to  suggest.  You  are  going  on  the  assumption  that  Austen 
Abbott  was  shot  by  Letty  Shaw  and  that  your  brother 
is  taking  the  thing  on  his  shoulders." 

"  I  am  sure  of  it !  "  she  declared.  "  The  girl  did  it 
herself,  beyond  a  doubt.  Brian  would  never  have  shot 
any  one.  He  might  have  horse-whipped  him,  perhaps  — 
even  beaten  him  to  death  —  but  shot  him  in  cold  blood  — 


never 


I  " 


"  The  provocation  —  "  Ruff  began. 

"  There  was  no  provocation,"  she  interrupted.  "  He 
was  engaged  to  the  girl,  and  of  course  we  hated  it,  but  she 
was  an  honest  little  thing,  and  devoted  to  him." 

"  Doubtless,"  Ruff  admitted.  "  But  all  the  same,  as 
you  will  hear  before  the  magistrates,  or  at  the  inquest, 
she  was  having  supper  alone  with  Austen  Abbott  that  night 
at  the  Milan.^^ 

Lady  Mary's  eyes  flashed. 

"  I  don't  believe  it !  "  she  declared. 

"  It  is  nevertheless  true,"  Peter  Ruff  assured  her. 
"  There  is  no  shadow  of  doubt  about  it." 

Lady  Mary  was  staggered.  For  a  few  moments  she 
seemed  struggling  to  rearrange  her  thoughts. 

"  You  see,"  Ruff  continued,  "  the  fact  that  Miss  Shaw 
was  willing  to  sup  with  Austen  Abbott  tete-a-tete  renders 
it  more  improbable  that  she  should  shoot  him  in  her  sitting- 
room,  an  hour  or  so  later,  and  then  go  calmly  up  to  her 
mother's  room  as  though  nothing  had  happened." 

Lady  Mary  had  lost  some  of  her  confidence,  but  she 
was  not  daunted. 

"  Even  if  we  have  been  deceived  in  the  girl,"  she  said, 


68     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

thoughtfully  —  "  even  if  she  were  disposed  to  flirt  with 
other  men  —  even  then  there  might  be  a  stronger  motive 
than  ever  for  her  wishing  to  get  rid  of  Abbott.  He  may 
have  become  jealous,  and  threatened  her." 

"  It  is,  of  course,  possible,"  Ruff  assented,  politely. 
"  Your  theory  would,  at  any  rate,  account  for  your 
brother's  present  attitude." 

She  looked  at  him  steadfastly. 

"  You  believe,  then,"  she  said,  "  that  my  brother  shot 
Austen  Abbott?" 

"  I  do,"  he  admitted  frankly.  "  So  does  every  man  or 
woman  of  common  sense  in  London.  On  the  facts  as 
they  are  stated  in  the  newspapers,  with  the  addition  of 
which  I  have  told  you,  no  other  conclusion  is  possible." 

Lady  Mary  rose. 

"  Then  I  may  as  well  go,"  she  said  tearfully. 

"  Not  at  all,"  Peter  Ruff  declared.  "  Listen.  This  is 
a  matter  of  business  with  me.  I  say  that  on  the  facts  as 
they  are  known,  your  brother's  guilt  appears  indubitable. 
I  do  not  say  that  there  may  not  be  other  facts  in  the 
background  which  alter  the  state  of  affairs.  If  you 
wish  me  to  search  for  them,  engage  me,  and  I  will  do 
my  best." 

"  Is  n't  that  what  I  am  here  for.^  "  the  girl  exclaimed. 

"  Very  well,"  Peter  Rliff  said.  "  My  services  are  at 
your  disposal." 

"  You  will  do  your  best  —  more  than  your  best,  won't 
you?  "  she  begged.  "  Remember  that  he  is  my  brother  — 
my  favorite  brother !  " 

"  I  will  do  what  can  be  done,"  Peter  Ruff  promised. 
"  Please  sit  down  at  that  desk  and  write  me  two  letters  of 
introduction." 

She  drew  off  her  gloves  and  prepared  to  obey  him. 

"  To  whom  ?  "  she  asked. 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     69 

"  To  the  solicitors  who  are  defending  your  brother," 
he  said,  "  and  to  Miss  Letty  Shaw." 

"  You  mean  to  go  and  see  her?  "  Lady  Mary  asked, 
doubtfully. 

"  Naturally,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  If  your  suppo- 
sition is  correct,  she  might  easily  give  herself  away  under 
a  little  subtle  cross-examination.  It  is  my  business  to 
know  how  to  ask  people  questions  in  such  a  way  that  if 
they  do  not  speak  the  truth  their  words  give  some  indi- 
cation of  it.  If  she  is  innocent  I  shall  know  that  I  have 
to  make  my  effort  in  another  direction." 

"What  other  direction  can  there  be.''"  Lady  Mary 
asked  dismally. 

Peter  Ruff  said  nothing.  He  was  too  kind-hearted  to 
kindle   false  hopes. 

"  It 's  a  hopeless  case,  of  course,"  Miss  Brown  re- 
marked, after  Lady  Mary  had  departed. 

"  I  'm  afraid  so,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  Still  I  must 
earn  my  money.  Please  get  some  one  to  take  you  to 
supper  to-night  at  the  Milan,  and  see  if  you  can  pick  up 
any  scandal." 

"  About  Letty  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  About  either  of  them,"  he  answered.  "  Particularly 
I  should  like  to  know  if  any  explanation  has  cropped  up 
of  her  supping  alone  with  Austen  Abbott." 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  can't  take  me  yourself,"  she  re- 
marked. "  You  are  on  the  side  of  the  law  this  time,  at 
any  rate." 

"  I  will,"  he  answered,  after  a  moment's  hesitation.  "  I 
will  call  for  you  at  eleven  o'clock  to-night." 

He  rose  and  closed  his  desk  emphatically. 

"  You  are  going  out  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  am  going  to  see  Miss  Letty  Shaw,"  he  answered. 


70     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

He  took  a  taxicab  to  the  flats,  and  found  a  handful  of 
curious  people  still  gazing  up  at  the  third  floor.  The 
parlor  maid  who  answered  his  summons  was  absolutely 
certain  that  INIiss  Shaw  would  not  see  him.  He  persuaded 
her,  after  some  difficulty,  to  take  in  his  letter  while  he 
waited  in  the  hall.  When  she  returned,  she  showed  him 
into  a  small  dining-room  and  pulled  down  the  blinds. 

*'  Miss  Shaw  will  see  you,  sir,  for  a  few  minutes,"  she 
announced,  in  a  subdued  tone.  "  Poor  dear  young  lady," 
she  continued,  "  she  has  been  crying  her  eyes  out  all  the 
morning." 

"  No  wonder,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  sympathetically.  "  It 's 
a  terrible  business,  this  !  " 

"  One  of  the  nicest  young  men  as  ever  walked,"  the  girl 
declared,  firmly.  "  As  for  that  other  brute,  he  deserved  all 
he  's  got,  and  more !  " 

Peter  Ruif  was  left  alone  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  an 
hour.  Then  the  door  was  softly  opened  and  Letty  Shaw 
entered.  There  was  no  doubt  whatever  about  her  suffer- 
ing. Ruff,  who  had  seen  her  only  lately  at  the  theatre, 
was  shocked.  Under  her  eyes  were  blacker  lines  than  her 
pencil  had  ever  traced.  Not  only  was  she  ghastly  pale, 
but  her  face  seemed  wan  and  shrunken.  She  spoke  to  him 
the  moment  she  entered,  leaning  with  one  hand  upon  the 
sideboard. 

"  Lady  Mary  writes  that  you  want  to  help  us,"  she  said. 
"How  can  you.''     How  is  it  possible .f*  " 

Even  her  voice  had  gone.  She  spoke  hoarsely,  and  as 
though  short  of  breath.  Her  eyes  searched  his  face  fever- 
ishly. It  seemed  cruelty  not  to  answer  her  at  once,  and 
Peter  Ruff  was  not  a  cruel  man.  Nevertheless,  he  re- 
mained silent,  and  it  seemed  to  her  that  his  eyes  were  like 
points  of  fire  upon  her  face. 

*'  What  is  the  matter?  "  she  cried,  with  breaking  voice. 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     71 

"What  have  you  come  for?  Why  don't  you  speak  to 
me?  " 

"  Madam,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  I  should  like  to  help  you, 
and  I  will  do  what  I  can.  But  in  order  that  I  may  do  so, 
it  is  necessary  that  you  should  answer  me  two  questions  — 
truthfully !  " 

Her  eyes  grew  wider.  It  was  the  face  of  a  terrified 
child. 

"Why  not?"  she  exclaimed.  "What  have  I  to 
conceal?  " 

Peter  Ruff's  expression  never  changed.  There  was 
nothing  about  him,  as  he  stood  there  with  his  hands  behind 
him,  his  head  thrown  a  little  forward,  in  the  least  inspiring 
—  nothing  calculated  to  terrify  the  most  timid  person. 
Yet  the  girl  looked  at  him  with  the  eyes  of  a  frightened 
bird. 

"  Remember,  then,"  he  continued,  smoothly,  "  that  what 
you  say  to  me  is  sacred.  You  and  I  are  alone  without  wit- 
nesses or  eavesdroppers.  Was  it  Brian  Sotherst  who  shot 
Abbott  —  or  was  it  you?  " 

She  gave  a  little  cry.  Her  hands  clasped  the  sides  of 
her  head  in  horror. 

"  I !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  I !    God  help  me !  " 

He  waited.     In  a  moment  she  looked  up. 

"  You  cannot  believe  that,"  she  said,  with  a  calmness 
for  which  he  was  scarcely  prepared.  "  It  is  absurd.  I 
left  the  room  by  the  inner  door  as  he  took  up  his  hat  to 
step  out  into  the  hall." 

"  Incidentally,"  he  asked  —  "  this  is  not  my  other  ques- 
tion, mind  —  why  did  you  not  let  him  out  yourself?  " 

"  We  had  disagreed,"  she  answered,  curtly. 

Peter  Ruff  bent  his  head  in  assent. 

"  I  see,"  he  remarked.  "  You  had  disagreed.  Abbott 
probably  hoped  that  you  would  relent,  so  he  waited  for  a 


72     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

few  minutes.  Brian  Sotherst,  who  had  escaped  from  his 
engagement  in  time,  he  thought,  to  come  and  wish  you 
good-night,  must  have  walked  in  and  found  him  there. 
By  the  bye,  how  would  Captain  Sotherst  get  in?  " 

"  He  had  a  key,"  the  girl  answered.  "  My  mother  lives 
here  with  me,  and  we  have  only  one  maid.  It  was  more 
convenient.  I  gave  him  one  washed  in  gold  for  a  birthday 
present  only  a  few  days  ago." 

"Thank  you,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "The  revolver,  I 
understand,  was  your  property.''  " 

She  nodded. 

"  It  was  a  present  from  Brian,"  she  said.  "  He  gave  it 
to  me  in  a  joke,  and  I  had  it  on  the  table  with  some  other 
curiosities." 

"  The  first  question,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  is  disposed  of. 
May  I  proceed  to  the  second.''  " 

The  girl  moistened  her  lips. 

"  Yes  !  "  she  answered. 

"  Why  did  you  sup  alone  with  Austen  Abbott  last 
night.?  " 

She  shrank  a  little  away. 

"Why  should  I  not.?-"  she  asked. 

"  You  have  been  on  the  stage,  my  dear  Miss  Shaw," 
Peter  Ruff  continued,  "  for  between  four  and  five  years. 
During  the  whole  of  that  time,  it  has  been  your  very  wise 
habit  to  join  supper  parties,  of  course,  when  the  company 
was  agreeable  to  you,  but  to  sup  alone  with  no  man!  Am 
I  not  right.?" 

"  You  seem  to  know  a  great  deal  about  me,"  she  faltered. 

"  Am  I  not  right.?  "  he  repeated. 

"  Yes !  " 

"  You  break  your  rule  for  the  first  time,"  Peter  Ruff 
continued,  "  in  favor  of  a  man  of  notoriously  bad  char- 
acter, a   few  weeks   after  the   announcement   of  your  en- 


THE  INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     73 

gagement  to  an  honorable  young  English  gentleman.  You 
know  very  well  the  construction  likely  to  be  put  upon  your 
behavior  —  you,  of  all  people,  would  be  the  most  likely  to 
appreciate  the  risk  you  ran.  Why  did  you  run  it?  In 
other  words,  I  repeat  my  question.  Why  did  you  sup 
alone  with  Austen  Abbott  last  night?" 

All  this  time  she  had  been  standing.  She  came  a  little 
forward  now,  and  threw  herself  into  an  easy-chair. 

"  It  does  n't  help  !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  All  this  does  n't 
help!" 

"  Nor  can  I  help  you,  then,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  stretching 
out  his  hand  for  his  hat. 

She  waved  to  him  to  put  it  down. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  she  said.  "  It  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  case,  but  since  you  ask,  you  shall  know.  There 
is  a  dear  little  girl  in  our  company  —  Fluffy  Dean  we  all 
call  her  —  only  eighteen  years  old.  We  all  love  her,  she 
is  so  sweet,  and  just  like  I  was  when  I  first  went  on  the 
stage,  only  much  nicer.  She  is  very  pretty,  she  has  no 
money,  and  she  is  such  an  affectionate  little  dear  that  al- 
though she  is  as  good  as  gold,  we  are  all  terrified  for  her 
sake  whenever  she  makes  acquaintances.  Several  of  us 
who  are  most  interested  made  a  sort  of  covenant.  We  all 
took  it  in  turns  to  look  after  her,  and  try  to  see  that  she 
did  not  meet  any  one  she  should  n't.  Yet,  for  all  our  pre- 
cautions, Austen  Abbott  got  hold  of  her  and  turned  her 
silly  little  head.  He  was  a  man  of  experience,  and  she  was 
only  a  child.  She  would  n't  listen  to  us  —  she  would  n't 
hear  a  word  against  him.  I  took  what  seemed  to  me  to  be 
the  only  chance.  I  went  to  him  myself  —  I  begged  for 
mercy,  I  begged  him  to  spare  the  child.  I  swore  that  if  — 
anything  happened  to  her,  I  would  start  a  crusade  against 
him,  I  would  pledge  my  word  that  he  should  be  cut  by 
every  decent  man  and  woman  on  the  stage !     He  listened 


74     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

to  what  I  had  to  say  and  at  first  he  only  smiled.  When  I 
had  finished,  he  made  me  an  offer.  He  said  that  if  I  would 
sup  with  him  alone  at  the  Milan,  and  permit  him  to  escort 
me  home  afterwards,  he  would  spare  the  child.  One 
further  condition  he  made  —  that  I  was  to  tell  no  one  why 
I  did  it.  It  was  the  man's  brutal  vanity !  I  made  the 
promise,  but  I  break  it  now.  You  have  asked  me  and  I 
have  told  you.  I  went  through  with  the  supper,  although 
I  hated  it.  I  let  him  come  in  for  a  drink  as  though  he  had 
been  a  friend.  Then  he  tried  to  make  love  to  me.  I  took 
the  opportunity  of  telling  him  exactly  what  I  thought  of 
him.  Then  I  showed  him  the  door,  and  left  him.  After- 
wards —  afterwards  —  Brian  came  in !  They  must  have 
met  upon  the  very  threshold !  " 

Peter  Ruff  took  up  his  hat. 

"  Thank  you !  "  he  said. 

*'  You  see,"  she  continued,  drearily,  "  that  it  all  has 
very  little  to  do  with  the  case.  I  meant  to  keep  it  to  my- 
self, because,  of  course,  apart  from  anything  else,  apart 
from  Brian's  meeting  him  coming  out  of  my  rooms,  it 
supplies  an  additional  cause  for  anger  on  Brian's  part." 

"  I  see,"  he  answered.  "  I  am  much  obliged  to  you,  Miss 
Shaw.    Believe  me  that  you  have  my  sincere  sympathy !  " 

Peter  Ruff's  farewell  words  were  unheard.  Letty  had 
fallen  forward  in  her  chair,  her  head  buried  in  her  hands. 

Peter  Ruff  went  to  Berkeley  Square  and  found  Lady 
Mary  waiting  for  him.  Sir  William  Trencham,  the  great 
solicitor,  was  with  her.  Lady  Mary  introduced  the  two 
men.    All  the  time  she  was  anxiously  watching  Ruff's  face. 

"  Mr.  Ruff  has  been  to  see  Miss  Shaw,"  she  explained 
to  Sir  William.  "  Mr.  Ruff,  tell  me  quickly,"  she  con- 
tinued, with  her  hand  upon  his  shoulder,  "  did  she  say 
anything.'*     Did  you  find  anything  out.''  " 

He  shook  his  head. 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     75 

"  No !  "  he  said.     "  I  found  nothing  out !  " 

"  You  don't  think,  then,"  Lady  Mary  gasped,  "  that 
there  is  any  chance  —  of  getting  her  to  confess  —  that  she 
did  it  herself?" 

"  Why  should  she  have  done  it  herself?  "  Peter  Ruff 
asked.  "  She  admits  that  the  man  tried  to  make  love  to 
her.  She  simply  left  him.  She  was  in  her  own  home,  with 
her  mother  and  servant  within  call.  There  was  no  struggle 
in  the  room  —  we  know  that.  There  was  no  necessity  for 
any." 

"  Have  you  made  any  other  inquiries  ?  "  Lady  Mary 
asked. 

"  The  few  which  I  have  made,"  Peter  Ruff  answered 
gravely,  "  point  all  in  the  same  direction.  I  ascertained 
at  the  Milan  that  your  brother  called  there  late  last  night, 
and  that  he  heard  Miss  Shaw  had  been  supping  alone  with 
Austen  Abbott,  He  followed  them  home.  I  have  ascer- 
tained, too,  that  he  had  a  key  to  Miss  Shaw's  flat.  He 
apparently  met  Austen  Abbott  upon  the  threshold." 

Lady  Mary  covered  her  face  with  her  hands.  She 
seemed  to  read  in  Ruff's  words  the  verdict  of  the  two  men 
—  the  verdict  of  common  sense.  Nevertheless,  he  made  one 
more  request  before  leaving. 

"  I  should  like  to  see  Captain  Sotherst,  if  you  can  get 
me  an  order,"  he  said  to  Sir  William. 

"  You  can  go  with  me  to-morrow  morning,"  the  lawyer 
answered.  "  The  proceedings  this  morning,  of  course, 
were  simply  formal.  Until  after  the  inquest  it  will  be  easy 
to  arrange  an  interview." 

Lady  Mary  looked  up  quickly. 

"  There  is  still  something  in  your  mind,  then?  "  she 
asked.     "  You  think  that  there  is  a  bare  chance?  " 

"  There  is  always  the  hundredth  chance !  "  Peter  Ruff 
replied. 


76     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Peter  Ruff  and  Miss  Brown  supped  at  the  Milan  that 
night  as  they  had  arranged,  but  it  was  not  a  cheerful 
evening.  Brian  Sotherst  had  been  very  popular  among 
Letty  Shaw's  little  circle  of  friends,  and  the  general  feeling 
was  one  of  horror  and  consternation  at  this  thing  which  had 
befallen  him.  Austen  Abbott,  too,  was  known  to  all  of 
them,  and  although  a  good  many  of  the  men  —  and  even 
the  women  —  were  outspoken  enough  to  declare  at  once 
that  it  served  him  right,  nevertheless,  the  shock  of  death 
—  death  without  a  second's  warning  —  had  a  paralyzing 
effect  even  upon  those  who  were  his  severest  critics.  Violet 
Brown  spoke  to  a  few  of  her  friends  —  introduced  Peter 
Ruff  here  and  there  —  but  nothing  was  said  which  could 
throw  in  any  way  even  the  glimmerings  of  a  new  light 
upon  the  tragedy.  It  all  seemed  too  hopelessly  and  fatally 
obvious. 

About  twenty  minutes  before  closing  time,  the  habitues 
of  the  place  were  provided  with  something  in  the  nature  of 
a  sensation.  A  little  party  entered  who  seemed  altogether 
free  from  the  general  air  of  gloom.  Foremost  among 
them  was  a  very  young  and  exceedingly  pretty  girl,  with 
light  golden  hair  waved  in  front  of  her  forehead,  deep  blue 
eyes,  and  the  slight,  airy  figure  of  a  child.  She  was  ac- 
companied by  another  young  woman,  whose  appearance 
was  a  little  too  obvious  to  be  prepossessing,  and  three  or 
four  young  men  —  dark,  clean-shaven,  dressed  with  the 
irritating  exactness  of  their  class  —  young  stock-brokers 
or  boys  about  town.  Miss  Brown's  eyes  grew  very  wide 
open. 

"  What  a  little  beast !  "  she  exclaimed. 

"Who?"  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  That  pretty  girl  there,"  she  answered  — "  Fluffy 
Dean  her  name  is.  She  is  Letty  Shaw's  protegee,  and  she 
would  n't  have  dreamed  of  allowing  her  to  come  out  with  a 


THE  INDISCRETION   OF  LETTY  SHAW    77 

crowd  like  that.  To-night,  of  all  nights,"  she  continued, 
indignantly,  "  when  Letty  is  away !  " 

Peter  Ruff  was  interested. 

"  So  that  is  Miss  Fluffy  Dean,"  he  remarked,  looking 
at  her  curiously.     "  She  seems  a  little  excited." 

"  She  's  a  horrid  little  wretch !  "  Miss  Brown  declared. 
"  I  hope  that  some  one  will  tell  Letty,  and  that  she  will 
drop  her  now.  A  girl  who  would  do  such  a  thing  as  that 
when  Letty  is  in  such  trouble  is  n't  worth  taking  care  of ! 
Just  listen  to  them  all !  " 

They  were  certainly  becoming  a  little  boisterous.  A 
magnum  of  champagne  was  being  opened.  Fluffy  Dean's 
cheeks  were  already  flushed,  and  her  eyes  glittering. 
Every  one  at  the  table  was  talking  a  great  deal  and  drink- 
ing toasts. 

"  This  is  the  end  of  Fluffy  Dean,"  Violet  Brown  said, 
severely.  "  I  hate  to  be  uncharitable,  but  it  serves  her 
right." 

Peter  Ruff  paid  his  bill. 

"  Let  us  go,"  he  said. 

In  the  taxicab,  on  their  way  back  to  Miss  Brown's 
rooms,  Ruff  was  unusually  silent,  but  just  before  he  said 
good-night  to  her  —  on  the  pavement,  in  fact,  outside  her 
front  door  —  he  asked  a  question. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  would  you  like  to  play  detective  for 
an  hour  or  two?  " 

She  looked  at  him  in  some  surprise. 

"  You  know  I  always  like  to  help  in  anything  that 's 
going,"  she  said. 

"Letty  Shaw  was  an  Australian,  wasn't  she.'^  "  he 
asked. 

"  Yes." 

"  She  was  bom  there,  and  lived  there  till  she  was  nearly 
eighteen  —  is  that  true?  "  he  asked  again. 


78    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Quite  true,"  Miss  Brown  answered. 

"  You  know  the  offices  of  the  P.  &  O.  line  of  steamers  in 
Pall  Mall?"  he  asked. 

She  nodded. 

"Well?" 

"  Get  a  sailing  list  to  Australia  —  there  should  be  a 
boat  going  Thursday.  Present  yourself  as  a  prospective 
passenger.  See  how  many  young  women  alone  there  are 
going  out,  and  ask  their  names.  Incidentally  put  in  a 
little  spare  time  watching  the  office." 

She  looked  at  him  with  parted  lips  and  wide  open  eyes. 

"  Do  you  think  —  "  she  began. 

He  shook  her  hand  warmly  and  stepped  back  into  the 
taxicab. 

"  Good  night !  "  he  said.  "  No  questions,  please.  I 
sha'n't  expect  you  at  the  office  at  the  usual  time  to-morrow, 
at  any  rate.  Telephone  or  run  round  if  you  've  anything 
to  tell  me." 

The  taxicab  disappeared  round  the  corner  of  the  street. 
Miss  Brown  was  standing  still  upon  the  pavement  with  the 
latchkey  in  her  hand. 

It  was  the  afternoon  before  the  inquest  on  the  body  of 
Austen  Abbott,  and  there  were  gathered  together  in  Letty 
Shaw's  parlor  a  curiously  assorted  little  group  of  people. 
There  was  Miss  Shaw  herself  —  or  rather  what  seemed  tq 
be  the  ghost  of  herself  —  and  her  mother ;  Lady  Mary 
and  Sir  William  Trencham;  Peter  Ruff  and  Violet  Brown 
—  and  Mr.  John  Dory.  The  eyes  of  all  of  them  were  fixed 
upon  Peter  Ruff,  who  was  the  latest  arrival.  He  s^.Oo  J  in 
the  middle  of  the  room,  calmly  taking  off  his  gloves, 
and  glancing  complacently  down  at  his  well-creased 
trousers. 

"  Lady  Mary,"  he  said,  "  and  Miss  Shaw,  I  know  that 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     79 

you  are  both  anxious  for  me  to  explain  why  I  ask  you 
to  meet  me  here  this  afternoon,  and  why  I  also  requested 
my  friend  Mr.  Dory  from  Scotland  Yard,  who  has  charge 
of  the  case  against  Captain  Sotherst,  to  be  present.  I 
will  tell  you." 

Mr.  Dory  nodded,  a  little  impatiently. 

"  Unless  you  have  something  very  definite  to  say," 
he  remarked,  "  I  think  it  would  be  as  well  to  postpone 
any  general  discussion  of  this  matter  until  after  the  in- 
quest. I  must  warn  you  that  so  far  as  I,  personally,  am 
concerned,  I  must  absolutely  decline  to  allude  to  the 
subject  at  all.     It  would  be  most  unprofessional." 

"  I  have  something  definite  to  say,"  Peter  Ruff  declared, 
mildly. 

Lady  Mary's  eyes  flashed  with  hope  —  Letty  Shaw 
leaned  forward  in  her  chair  with  white,  drawn  face. 

"  Let  it  be  understood,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  with  a  slight 
note  of  gravity  creeping  into  his  tone,  "  that  I  am  here 
solely  as  the  agent  of  Lady  Mary  Sotherst.  I  am  paid 
and  employed  by  her.  My  sole  object  is  on  her  behalf, 
therefore,  to  discover  proof  of  the  innocence  of  Captain 
Sotherst.  I  take  it,  however,"  he  added,  turning  towards 
the  drooping  figure  in  the  easy-chair,  "  that  Miss  Shaw  is 
as  anxious  to  have  the  truth  known." 

"  Of  course !     Of  course !  "  she  murmured. 

"  In  France,"  Peter  Ruff  continued,  "  there  is  a  some- 
what curious  custom,  which,  despite  a  certain  theatricality, 
yet  has  its  points.  The  scene  of  a  crime  is  visited,  and  its 
events,  so  far  as  may  be,  reconstructed.  Let  us  suppose 
for  a  moment  that  we  are  now  engaged  upon  something 
of  the  sort." 

Letty  Shaw  shrank  back  in  her  chair.  Her  thin  white 
fingers  were  gripping  its  sides.  Her  eyes  seemed  to  look 
upon  terrible  things. 


8o    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  It  is  too  —  awful !  "  she  faltered. 

"  Madam,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  firmly,  "  we  seek  the  truth. 
Be  so  good  as  to  humor  me  in  this.  Dory,  will  you  go  to 
the  front  door,  stand  upon  the  mat  —  so.''  You  are 
Captain  Sotherst  —  you  have  just  entered.  I  am  Austen 
Abbott.  You,  Miss  Shaw,  have  just  ordered  me  from  the 
room.  You  see,  I  move  toward  the  door.  I  open  it  —  so. 
Miss  Shaw,"  he  added,  turning  swiftly  towards  her,  "  once 
more  will  you  assure  me  that  everyone  who  was  in  the  flat 
that  night,  with  the  exception  of  your  domestic  servant, 
is  present  now.''  " 

"  Yes,"  she  murmured. 

"  Good !  Then  who,"  he  asked,  suddenly  pointing  to  a 
door  on  the  left  —  "  who  is  in  that  room?  " 

They  had  all  crowded  after  him  to  the  threshold  — 
thronging  around  him  as  he  stood  face  to  face  with  John 
Dory.  His  finger  never  wavered  —  it  was  pointing 
steadily  towards  that  closed  door  a  few  feet  to  the  left. 
Suddenly  Letty  Shaw  rushed  past  them  with  a  loud 
shriek. 

"  You  shall  not  go  in !  "  she  cried.  "  What  business  is 
it  of  his?" 

She  stood  with  her  back  to  the  door,  her  arms  out- 
stretched like  a  cross.  Her  cheeks  were  livid.  Her  eyes 
seemed  starting  from  her  head. 

Peter  Ruff  and  John  Dory  laid  their  hands  upon  the 
girl's  wrists.  She  clung  to  her  place  frantically.  She  was 
dragged  from  it,  screaming.  Peter  Ruff,  as  was  his  right, 
entered  first.  Almost  immediately  he  turned  round,  and 
his  face  was  very  grave. 

"  Something  has  happened  in  here,  I  am  afraid,"  he 
said.     "  Please  come  in  quietly." 

On  the  bed  lay  Fluffy  Dean,  fully  dressed  —  motionless. 
One  hand  hung  down  toward  the  floor  —  from  the  lifeless 


THE  INDISCRETION   OF   LETTY   SHAW     8i 

fingers  a  little  phial  had  slipped.     The  room  was  full  of 
trunks   addressed  to  — 

Miss  Smith, 

Passenger  to  Melbourne. 
S.  S.  Caroline. 

Peter  Ruff  moved  over  tov  ^-d  the  bed  and  took  up  a 
piece  of  paper,  upon  which  were  scribbled  a  few  lines  in 
pencil. 

"  I  think,"  he  said,  "  that  I  must  read  these  aloud.  You 
all  have  a  right  to  hear  them." 

No  one  spoke.     He  continued: 

Forgive  me,  Letty,  but  I  cannot  go  to  Australia.  They  would 
only  bring  me  back.  When  I  remember  that  awful  moment,  my 
brain  burns  —  I  feel  that  I  am  going  mad !  Some  day  I  should  do 
this  —  better  now.     Give  my  love  to  the  girls. 

Fluffy. 

They  sent  for  a  doctor,  and  John  Dory  rang  up  Scot- 
land Yard.  Letty  Shaw  had  fainted,  and  had  been  carried 
to  her  room.  While  they  waited  about  in  strange,  half- 
benumbed  excitement,  Peter  RufT  once  more  spoke  to  them. 

"  The  reconstruction  is  easy  enough  now,"  he  remarked. 
"  The  partition  between  this  sitting-room  and  that  little 
bedroom  is  only  an  artificial  one  —  something  almost  as 
flimsy  as  a  screen.  You  see,"  he  continued,  tapping  with 
his  knuckles,  "  you  can  almost  put  your  hand  through  it. 
If  you  look  a  little  lower  down,  you  will  see  where  an 
opening  has  been  made.  Fluflfy  Dean  was  being  taken  care 
of  by  Miss  Shaw  —  staying  with  her  here,  even.  Miss 
Dean  hears  her  lover's  voice  in  this  room  —  hears  him 
pleading  with  Miss  Shaw  on  the  night  of  the  murder. 
She  had  been  sent  home  early  from  the  theatre,  and  it  is 
just  possible  that  she  saw  or  had  been  told  that  Austen 
Abbott  had  fetched  Miss  Shaw  after  the  performance  and 
had  taken  her  to  supper.     She  was  mad  with  anger  and 


82     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

jealousy.  The  revolver  was  there  upon  the  table,  with  a 
silver  box  of  cartridges.  She  possessed  herself  of  it  and 
waited  in  her  room.  What  she  heard  proved,  at  least,  her 
lover's  infidelity.  She  stood  there  at  her  door,  waiting. 
When  Austen  Abbott  comes  out,  she  shoots,  throws  the 
revolver  at  him,  closes  her  door,  and  goes  off  into  a  faint. 
Perhaps  she  hears  footsteps  —  a  key  in  the  door.  At  any 
rate.  Captain  Sotherst  arrives  a  few  minutes  later.  He 
finds,  half  in  the  hall,  half  on  the  threshold  of  the  sitting- 
room,  Austen  Abbott  dead,  and  Miss  Shaw's  revolver  by 
the  side  of  him.  If  he  had  been  a  wise  young  man,  he 
would  have  aroused  the  household.  Why  he  did  not  do 
so,  we  can  perhaps  guess.  He  put  two  and  two  together 
a  little  too  quickly.  It  is  certain  that  he  believed  that  the 
dead  man  had  been  shot  by  his  fiancee.  His  first  thought 
was  to  get  rid  of  the  revolver.  At  any  rate,  he  walked 
down  to  the  street  with  it  in  his  hand,  and  was  promptly 
arrested  by  the  policeman  who  had  heard  the  shot.  Nat- 
urally he  refused  to  plead,  because  he  believed  that  Miss 
Shaw  had  killed  the  man,  probably  in  self-defense.  She, 
at  first,  believed  her  lover  guilty,  and  when  afterwards 
Fluffy  Dean  confessed,  she,  with  feminine  lack  of  common 
sense,  was  trying  to  get  the  girl  out  of  the  country  before 
telling  the  truth.  A  visit  of  hers  to  the  office  of  the  steam- 
ship company  gave  me  the  clue  I  required." 

Lady  Mary  grasped  both  his  hands. 

"  And  Scotland  Yard,"  she  exclaimed,  with  a  withering 
glance  at  Dory,  "  have  done  their  best  to  hang  my 
brother !  " 

Peter  Ruff  raised  his  eyebrows. 

"  Dear  Lady  Mary,"  he  said,  "  remember  that  it  is  the 
business  of  Scotland  Yard  to  find  a  man  guilty.  It  is  mine, 
when  I  am  employed  for  that  purpose,  to  find  him  inno- 
cent.    You  must  not  be  too   hard  upon  my   friend  Mr. 


THE   INDISCRETION   OF  LETTY   SHAW    83 

Dory.  He  and  I  seem  to  come  up  against  each  other  a 
little  too  often,  as  it  is." 

"  A  little  too  often ! "  John  Dory  repeated,  softly. 
"  But  one  cannot  tell.  Don't  believe.  Lady  Mary,"  he 
added,  "  that  we  ever  want  to  kill  an  innocent  man." 

"  It  is  your  profession,  though,"  she  answered,  "  to  find 
criminals  —  and  his,"  she  added,  touching  Peter  Ruif  on 
the  shoulder,  "  to  look  for  the  truth." 

Peter  Ruff  bowed  low  —  the  compliment  pleased  him. 


CHAPTER    V 

DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM 

It  was  a  favorite  theory  with  Peter  Ruff  that  the  morn- 
ing papers  received  very  insufficient  consideration  from  the 
majority  of  the  British  pubHc.  A  glance  at  the  headhnes 
and  a  few  of  the  spiciest  paragraphs,  a  vague  look  at  the 
leading  article,  and  the  sheets  were  thrown  away  to  make 
room  for  more  interesting  literature.  It  was  not  so  with 
Peter  Ruff.  Novels  he  very  seldom  read  —  he  did  not,  in 
fact,  appreciate  the  necessity  for  their  existence.  The 
whole  epitome  of  modern  life  was,  he  argued,  to  be  found 
among  the  columns  of  the  daily  press.  The  police  news, 
perhaps,  was  his  favorite  study,  but  he  did  not  neglect  the 
advertisements.  It  followed,  therefore,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  that  the  appeal  of  "  M  "  in  the  personal  column  of 
the  Daily  Mail  was  read  by  him  on  the  morning  of  its 
appearance  —  read  not  once  only  nor  twice  —  it  was  a 
paragraph  which  had  its  own  peculiar  interest  for  him. 

Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald,  if  still  in  England,  is  requested  to  com- 
municate with  "  M,"  at  Vagali's  Library,  Cook's  Alley,  Ledham 
Street,  Soho. 

Peter  Ruff  laid  the  paper  down  upon  his  desk  and  looked 
steadily  at  a  box  of  india-rubber  bands.  Almost  his  fingers, 
as  he  parted  with  the  newspaper,  had  seemed  to  be  shaking. 
His  eyes  were  certainly  set  in  an  unusually  retrospective 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  85 

stare.  Who  was  this  who  sought  to  probe  his  past,  to 
renew  an  acquaintance  with  a  dead  personality?  "  M  " 
could  be  but  one  person!  What  did  she  want  of  him? 
Was  it  possible  that,  after  all,  a  little  flame  of  sentiment 
had  been  kept  alight  in  her  bosom,  too  —  that  in  the  quiet 
moments  her  thoughts  had  turned  towards  him  as  his  had 
so  often  done  to  her?  Then  a  sudden  idea  —  an  ugly 
thought  —  drove  the  tenderness  from  his  face.  She  was 
no  longer  Maud  Barnes  —  she  was  Mrs.  John  Dory,  and 
John  Dory  was  his  enemy !  Could  there  be  treachery  lurk- 
ing beneath  those  simple  lines?  Things  had  not  gone  well 
with  John  Dory  lately.  Somehow  or  other,  his  cases  seemed 
to  have  crumpled  into  dust.  He  was  no  longer  held  in  the 
same  esteem  at  headquarters.  Yet  could  even  John  Dory 
stoop  to  such  means  as  these? 

He  turned  in  his  chair. 

*'  Miss  Brown,"  he  said,  "  please  take  your  pencil." 

"  I  am  quite  ready,  sir,"  she  answered. 

He  marked  the  advertisement  with  a  ring  and  passed  it 
to  her, 

"  Reply  to  that  as  follows,"  he  said : 

Deak  Sir: 

I  notice  in  the  Daily  Mail  of  this  morning  that  you  are  inquiring 
through  the  "  personal  "  column  for  the  whereabouts  of  Mr.  Spencer 
Fitzgerald.  That  gentleman  has  been  a  client  of  mine,  and  I  have 
been  in  occasional  communication  with  him.  If  you  will  inform 
me  of  the  nature  of  your  business,  I  may,  perhaps,  be  able  to  put 
you  in  touch  with  Mr.  Fitzgerald.  You  will  understand,  however, 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  I  shall  require  proofs  of  your  good 
faith. 

Truly  yoirrs, 

Peter  Ruff. 

Miss  Brown  glanced  through  the  advertisement  and 
closed  her  notebook  with  a  little  snap. 

"  Did  you  say  —  '  Dear  Sir  '  ?  "  she  asked. 
"  Certainly !  "  Peter  Ruff  answered. 


86     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  And  you  really  mean,"  she  continued,  with  obvious  dis- 
approval, "  that  I  am  to  send  this  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  usually  waste  my  time,"  Peter  Ruff  reminded 
her,  mildly,  "  by  giving  you  down  communications  destined 
for  the  waste-paper  basket." 

She  turned  unwillingly  to  her  machine. 

"  Mr.  Fitzgerald  is  very  much  better  where  he  Is,"  she 
remarked. 

"  That  depends,"  he  answered. 

She  adjusted  a  sheet  of  paper  into  her  typewriter. 

"  Who  do  you  suppose  '  M  '  is  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  With  your  assistance,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked,  a  Httle 
sarcastically  —  "  with  your  very  kind  assistance  —  I  pro- 
pose to  find  out !  " 

Miss  Brown  sniffed,  and  banged  at  the  keys  of  her  type- 
writer. 

"  That  coal-dealer's  girl  from  Streatham !  "  she  mur- 
mured to  herself.   .  .  . 

A  few  politely  worded  letters  were  exchanged.  "  M  " 
declined  to  reveal  her  identity,  but  made  an  appointment  to 
visit  Mr.  Ruff  at  his  office.  The  morning  she  was  expected, 
he  wore  an  entirely  new  suit  of  clothes  and  was  palpably 
nervous.  Miss  Brown,  who  had  arrived  a  little  late,  sat  with 
her  back  turned  upon  him,  and  ignored  even  his  usual  morn- 
ing greeting.  The  atmosphere  of  the  office  was  decidedly 
chilly !    Fortunately,  the  expected  visitor  arrived  early. 

Peter  Ruff  rose  to  receive  his  former  sweetheart  with  an 
agitation  perforce  concealed,  yet  to  him  poignant  indeed. 
For  it  was  indeed  Maud  who  entered  the  room  and  came 
towards  him  with  carefully  studied  embarrassment  and  half 
doubtfully  extended  hand.  He  did  not  see  the  cheap  mil- 
linery, the  slightly  more  developed  figure,  the  passing  of 
that  insipid  prettiness  which  had  once  charmed  him  into 
the  bloom  of  an  over-early  maturity.    His  eyes  were  blinded 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  87 

with  that  sort  of  mascuHne  chivalry  —  the  heritage  only  of 
fools  and  very  clever  men  —  which  takes  no  note  of  such 
things.  It  was  Miss  Brown  who,  from  her  place  in  a  corner 
of  the  room,  ran  over  the  cheap  attractions  of  this  un- 
welcome visitor  Avith  an  expression  of  scornful  wonder  — 
who  understood  the  tinsel  of  her  jewelry,  the  cheap  shoddi- 
ness  of  her  ready-made  gown ;  who  appreciated,  with  mer- 
ciless judgment,  her  mincing  speech,  her  cheap,  flirtatious 
method. 

Maud,  with  a  diffidence  not  altogether  assumed,  had  ac- 
cepted tht  .;hair  which  Peter  Ruff  had  placed  for  her,  and 
sat  fidgeting,  for  a  moment,  with  the  imitation  gold  purse 
which  she  was  carrying. 

"  I  am  sure,  Mr.  Ruff,"  she  said,  looking  demurely  into 
her  lap,  "  I  ought  not  to  have  come  here.  I  feel  terribly 
guilty.  It 's  such  an  uncomfortable  sort  of  position,  too, 
isn't  it?" 

"  I  am  sorry  that  you  find  it  so,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  If 
there  is  anything  I  can  do  —  " 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  she  murmured,  half  raising  her 
eyes  to  his  and  dropping  them  again,  "  but,  you  see,  we 
are  perfect  strangers  to  one  another.  You  don't  know  me 
at  all,  do  you.''  and  I  have  only  heard  of  you  through  the 
newspapers.  You  might  think  all  sorts  of  things  about  my 
coming  here  to  make  inquiries  about  a  gentleman." 

"  I  can  assure  you,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  sincerely,  "that  you 
need  have  no  fears  —  no  fears  at  all.  Just  speak  to  me  quite 
frankly.  Mr.  Fitzgerald  was  a  friend  of  yours,  was  he  not.''  " 

Maud  simpered. 

"  He  was  more  than  that,"  she  answered,  looking  down. 
"  We  were  engaged  to  be  married." 

Peter  Ruff  sighed. 

"  I  knew  all  about  it,"  he  declared.  "  Fitzgerald  used 
to  tell  me  everything." 


88     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  were  his  friend?  "  she  asked,  looking  him  in  the 
face. 

"  I  was,"  Peter  Ruff  answered  fervently,  "  his  best 
friend !  No  one  was  more  grieved  than  I  about  that  — 
little   mistake." 

She   sighed. 

"  In  some  ways,"  she  remarked  softly,  '*  you  remind  me 
of  him." 

"  You  could  scarcely  say  anything,"  Peter  Ruff  mur- 
mured, "  which  would  give  me  more  pleasure.  I  am 
flattered." 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  It  is  n't  flattery,"  she  said,  "  it 's  the  truth.  You  may 
be  a  few  years  older,  and  Spencer  had  a  very  nice  mustache, 
which  you  have  n't,  but  you  are  really  not  unlike.  Mr. 
Ruff,  do  tell  me  where  he  is !  " 

Peter  Ruff  coughed. 

"  You  must  remember,"  he  said,  "  that  Mr.  Fitzgerald's 
absence  was  caused  by  events  of  a  somewhat  unfortunate 
character." 

"  I  know  all  about  it,"  she  answered,  with  a  little  sigh. 

"  You  can  appreciate  the  fact,  therefore,"  Peter  Ruff 
continued,  "  that  as  his  friend  and  well-wisher  I  can 
scarcely  disclose  his  whereabouts  without  his  permission. 
Will  you  tell  me  exactly  why  you  want  to  meet  him  again?  " 

She  blushed  —  looked  down  and  up  again  —  betrayed, 
in  fact,  all  the  signs  of  confusion  which  might  have  been 
expected  from  her. 

"  Must  I  tell  you  that?  "  she  asked. 

"  You  are  married,  are  you  not  ?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked, 
looking  down  at  her  wedding-ring. 

She  bit  her  lip  with  vexation.  What  a  fool  she  had  been 
not  to  take  it  off ! 

"  Yes !    Well,  no  —  that  is  to  say  —  " 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  89 

"  Never  mind,"  Peter  Ruff  interrupted.  "  Please  don't 
think  that  I  want  to  cross-examine  you.  I  only  asked 
these  questions  because  I  have  a  sincere  regard  for  Fitz- 
gerald. I  know  how  fond  he  was  of  you,  and  I  cannot 
see  what  there  is  to  be  gained,  from  his  point  of  view,  by 
reopening  old  wounds." 

"  I  suppose,  then,"  she  remarked,  looking  at  him  in 
such  a  manner  that  Miss  Brown  had  to  cover  her  mouth 
with  her  hands  to  prevent  her  screaming  out  —  "I  sup- 
pose you  are  one  of  those  who  think  it  a  crime  for  a  woman 
who  is  married  even  to  want  to  see,  for  a  few  moments,  an 
old  sweetheart?  " 

'  On  the  contrary,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  "  as  a  bache- 
lor, I  have  no  convictions  of  any  sort  upon  the  subject." 

She  sighed. 

"  I  am  glad  of  that,"  she  said. 

"  I  am  to  understand,  then,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked,  "  that 
your  reason  for  wishing  to  meet  Mr.  Fitzgerald  again  is 
purely  a  sentimental  one.''  " 

"  I  am  afraid  it  is,"  she  murmured ;  "  I  have  thought  of 
him  so  often  lately.  He  was  such  a  dear !  "  she  declared, 
with  enthusiasm. 

"  I  have  never  been  sufficiently  thankful,"  she  continued, 
"  that  he  got  away  that  night.  At  the  time,  I  was  very 
angry,  but  often  since  then  I  have  wished  that  I  could  have 
passed  out  with  him  into  the  fog  and  been  lost  —  but  I 
must  n't  talk  like  this !  Please  don't  misunderstand 
me,  Mr.  Ruff.  I  am  happily  married  —  quite  happily 
married !  " 

Peter  Ruff  sighed. 

"  My  friend  Fitzgerald,"  he  remarked,  "  will  be  glad 
to  hear  that." 

Maud  fidgeted.  It  was  not  quite  the  effect  she  had 
intended  to  produce! 


go     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Of  course,"  she  remarked,  looking  away  with  a  pensive 
air,  "  one  has  regrets." 

"  Regrets  !  "  Peter  Ruff  murmured. 

"  Mr.  Dory  is  not  well  off,"  she  continued,  "  and  I  am 
afraid  that  I  am  very  fond  of  life  and  going  about,  and 
everything  is  so  expensive  nowadays.  Then  I  don't  like 
his  profession.  I  think  it  is  hateful  to  be  always  trj'ing 
to  catch  people  and  put  them  in  prison  —  don't  you,  Mr. 
Ruff.?  " 

Peter  Ruff  smiled. 

"  Naturally,"  he  answered.  "  Your  husband  and  I  work 
from  the  opposite  poles  of  life.  He  is  always  seeking  to 
make  criminals  of  the  people  whom  I  am  always  trying  to 
prove  worthy  members  of  society." 

"  How  noble !  "  Maud  exclaimed,  clasping  her  hands  and 
looking  up  at  him.  "  So  much  more  remunerative,  too,  I 
should  think,"  she  added,  after  a  moment's  pause. 

"  Naturally,"  Peter  Ruff  admitted.  "  A  private  in- 
dividual will  pay  more  to  escape  from  the  clutches  of  the 
law  than  the  law  will  to  secure  its  victims.  Scotland  Yard 
expects  them  to  come  into  its  arms  automatically  — 
regards  them  as  a  perquisite  of  its  existence." 

"  I  wish  my  husband  were  in  your  profession,  Mr.  Ruff," 
Maud  said,  with  a  sidelong  glance  of  her  blue  eyes  which 
she  had  always  found  so  effective  upon  her  various  ad- 
mirers. "  I  am  sure  that  I  should  be  a  great  deal  fonder 
of  him." 

Peter  Ruff  leaned  forward  in  his  chair.  He,  too,  had 
expressive  eyes  at  times. 

"  Madam,"  he  said  —  and  stopped.  But  Maud  blushed, 
all  the  same. 

She  looked  down  into  her  lap. 

"  We  are  forgetting  Mr.  Fitzgerald,"  she  murmured. 

Peter  Ruff  glanced  up  at  the  clock. 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  gi 

"  It  is  a  long  story,"  he  said.  "  Are  you  in  a  hurry, 
Mrs,  Dory?  " 

"  Not  at  all,"  she  assured  him,  "  unless  you  want  to  close 
your  office,  or  anything.     It  must  be  nearly  one  o'clock." 

"  I  wonder,"  he  asked,  "  if  you  would  do  me  the  honor 
of  lunching  with  me?  We  might  go  to  the  Prince'' s  or  the 
Carlton  —  whichever  you  prefer.  I  will  promise  to  talk 
about  Mr.  Fitzgerald  all  the  time." 

"  Oh,  I  could  n't !  "  Maud  declared,  with  a  little  gasp. 
"  At  least  —  well,  I  'm  sure  I  don't  know !  " 

"  You  have  no  engagement  for  luncheon  ?  "  Peter  Ruff 
asked  quietly. 

"  Oh,  no !  "  she  answered ;  "  but,  you  see,  we  live  so 
quietly.  I  have  never  been  to  one  of  those  places.  I  'd 
love  to  go  —  but  if  we  were  seen !  Would  n't  people 
talk?" 

Peter  Ruff  smiled.  Just  the  same  dear,  modest  little 
thing ! 

"  I  can  assure  you,"  he  said,  "  that  nothing  whatever 
could  be  said  against  our  lunching  together.  People  are 
not  so  strict  nowadays,  you  knoAv,  and  a  married  lady  has 
always  a  great  de-al  of  latitude." 

She  looked  up  at  him  with  a  dazzling  smile. 

"  I  'd  simply  love  to  go  to  Princess!  "  she  declared. 

"  Cat !  "  Miss  Brown  murmured,  as  Peter  Ruff  and  his 
client  left  the  room  together. 

Peter  Ruff  returned  from  his  luncheon  in  no  very  jubi- 
lant state  of  mind.  For  some  time  he  sat  in  his  easy-chair, 
with  his  legs  crossed  and  his  finger-tips  pressed  close  to- 
gether, looking  steadily  into  space.  Contrary  to  his  usual 
custom,  he  did  not  smoke.  Miss  Brown  watched  him  from 
behind  her  machine. 

"Disenchanted?"  she  asked  calmly. 

Peter  Ruff  did  not  reply  for  several  moments. 


92     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  admitted,  hesitatingly,  "  that  mar- 
riage with  John  Dory  has  —  well,  not  had  a  beneficial 
effect.  She  allowed  me,  for  instance,  to  hold  her  hand  in 
the  cab!  Maud  would  never  have  permitted  a  stranger 
to  take  such  a  liberty  in  the  old  days." 

Miss  Brown  smiled  curiously. 

"  Is  that  all?  "  she  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  felt  that  he  was  in  the  confessional. 

"  She  certainly  did  seem,"  he  admitted,  "  to  enjoy  her 
champagne  a  great  deal,  and  she  talked  about  her  dull 
life  at  home  a  little  more,  perhaps,  than  was  discreet  to 
one  who  was  presumably  a  stranger.  She  was  curious, 
too,  about  dining  out.  Poor  little  girl,  though.  Just 
fancy,  John  Dory  has  never  taken  her  anywhere  but  to 
Lyons'  or  an  A  B  C,  and  the  pit  of  a  theatre !  " 

"  Which  evening  is  it  to  be?  "  Miss  Brown  asked. 

"  Something  was  said  about  Thursday,"  Peter  Ruff 
admitted. 

"  And  her  husband?  "  Miss  Brown  inquired. 

"  He  happens  to  be  in  Glasgow  for  a  few  days,"  Peter 
Ruff  answered. 

Miss  Brown  looked  at  her  employer  steadily.  She  ad- 
dressed him  by  his  Christian  name,  which  was  a  thing  she 
very  seldom  did  in  office  hours. 

"  Peter,"  she  said,  "  are  you  going  to  let  that  woman 
make  a  fool  of  you?  " 

He  raised  his  eyebrows. 

"  Go  on,"  he  said ;  "  say  anything  you  want  to  —  only, 
if  you  please,  don't  speak  disrespectfully  of  Maud." 

"  Has  n't  it  ever  occurred  to  you  at  all,"  Miss  Brown 
continued,  rising  to  her  feet,  "  that  this  Maud,  or  what- 
ever you  want  to  call  her,  may  be  playing  a  low-down  game 
of  her  husband's?  He  hates  you,  and  he  has  vague  sus- 
picions.    Can't  you  see  that  he  is  probably  making  use  of 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  93 

your  infatuation  for  his  common,  middle-class  little  wife, 
to  try  and  get  you  to  give  yourself  away?  Can't  you  see 
it,  Peter?  You  are  not  going  to  tell  me  that  you  are  so 
blind  as  all  that !  " 

"  I  must  admit,"  he  answered  with  a  sigh,  "  that,  al- 
though I  think  you  go  altogether  too  far,  some  suspicion 
of  the  sort  has  interfered  with  my  perfect  enjoyment  of 
the  morning." 

Miss  Brown  drew  a  little  breath  of  relief.  After  all, 
then,  his  folly  was  not  so  consummate  as  it  had  seemed ! 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it,  then?  "  she  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  coughed  —  he  seemed  in  an  unusually  amen- 
able frame  of  mind,  and  submitted  to  cross-examination 
without  murmur. 

"  The  subject  of  Mr,  Spencer  Fitzgerald,"  he  remarked, 
"  seemed,  somehow  or  other,  to  drop  into  the  background 
during  our  luncheon.  I  propose,  therefore,  to  continue 
to  offer  to  Mrs.  John  Dory  my  most  respectful  admiration. 
If  she  accepts  my  friendship,  and  is  satisfied  with  it,  so 
much  the  better.  I  must  admit  that  it  would  give  me  a 
great  deal  of  pleasure  to  be  her  occasional  companion  — 
at  such  times  when  her  husband  happens  to  be  in 
Glasgow !  " 

"  And  supposing,"  Miss  Brown  asked,  "  that  this  is  not 
all  she  wants  —  supposing,  for  instance,  that  she  persists 
in  her  desire  for  infonnation  concerning  Mr.  Spencer 
Fitzgerald?" 

"  Then,"  Peter  Ruff  admitted,  "  I  'm  afraid  that  I  must 
conclude  that  her  unchivalrous  clod  of  a  husband  has 
indeed  stooped  to  make  a  tool  of  her." 

"  And  in  that  case,"  Miss  Brown  demanded,  "  what 
shall  you  do?  " 

"  I  was  just  thinking  that  out,"  Peter  Ruff  said  mildly, 
"  when    you    spoke.   .   .   ." 


94    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

The  friendship  of  Peter  Ruff  with  the  wife  of  his  enemy 
certainly  appeared  to  progress  in  most  satisfactory 
fashion.  The  dinner  and  visit  to  the  theatre  duly  took 
place.  Mr.  Ruff  was  afterwards  permitted  to  offer  a  slight 
supper  and  to  accompany  his  fair  companion  a  portion  of 
the  way  home  in  a  taxicab.  She  made  several  half-hearted 
attempts  to  return  to  the  subject  of  Spencer  Fitzgerald, 
but  her  companion  had  been  able  on  each  occasion  to 
avoid  the  subject.  Whether  or  not  she  was  the  victim  of 
her  husband's  guile,  there  was  no  question  about  the  reality 
of  her  enjoyment  during  the  evening.  Ruff,  when  he 
remembered  the  flash  of  her  eyes  across  the  table,  the  touch 
of  her  fingers  in  the  taxi,  was  almost  content  to  believe  her 
false  to  her  truant  lover.  If  only  she  had  not  been  married 
to  John  Dory,  he  realized,  with  a  little  sigh,  that  he  might 
have  taught  her  to  forget  that  such  a  person  existed  as 
Spencer  Fitzgerald,  might  have  induced  her  to  become  Mrs. 
Peter  Ruff ! 

On  their  next  meeting,  however,  Peter  Ruff  was  forced  to 
realize  that  his  secretary's  instinct  had  not  misled  her.  It 
was,  alas,  no  personal  and  sentimental  regrets  for  her 
former  lover  which  had  brought  the  fair  Maud  to  his  office. 
The  pleasures  of  her  evening  —  they  dined  at  Romanovs 
and  had  a  box  at  the  Empire  —  were  insufficient  this  time 
to  keep  her  from  recurring  continually  to  the  subject  of  her 
vanished  lover.  He  tried  strategy  —  jealousy  amongst 
other  things. 

"  Supposing,"  he  said,  as  they  sat  quite  close  to  one 
another  in  the  box  during  the  interval,  "  supposing  I  were 
to  induce  our  friend  to  come  to  London  —  I  imagine  he 
would  be  fairly  safe  now  if  he  kept  out  of  your  husband's 
way  —  what  would  happen  to  me  ?  " 

"  You !  "  she  murmured,  glancing  at  him  from  behind 
her  fan  and  then  dropping  her  eyes. 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  95 

"  Certainly  —  me !  "  he  continued.  "  Don't  you  think 
that  I  should  be  doing  myself  a  very  ill  turn  if  I  brought 
you  two  together?  I  have  very  few  friends,  and  I  cannot 
afford  to  lose  one.  I  am  quite  sure  that  you  still  care  for 
him." 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  Not  a  scrap !  "  she  declared. 

"  Then  why  did  you  put  that  advertisement  in  the 
paper.?  "  Ruff  asked,  with  smooth  but  swift  directness. 

She  was  not  quick  enough  to  parry  his  question.  He 
read  the  truth  in  her  disconcerted  face.  Knowing  it  now 
for  a  certainty,  he  hastened  to  her  aid. 

"  Forgive  me,"  he  said,  looking  away.  "  I  sliould  not 
have  asked  that  question  —  it  is  not  my  business.  I  will 
write  to  Fitzgerald.  I  will  tell  him  that  you  want  to  see 
him,  and  that  I  think  it  would  be  safe  for  him  to  come  to 
London." 

Maud  recovered  herself  quickly.  She  thanked  him  with 
her  eyes  as  well  as  her  words. 

"And  you  needn't  be  jealous,  really,"  she  whispered 
behind  her  fan.  "  I  only  want  to  see  him  once  for  a  few 
minutes  —  to  ask  a  question.  After  that,  I  don't  care 
what  becomes  of  him." 

A  poor  sort  of  Delilah,  really,  with  her  flushed  face,  her 
too  elaborately  coiffured  hair  with  its  ugly  ornament,  her 
ready-made  evening  dress  with  its  cheap  attempts  at 
smartness,  her  cleaned  gloves,  indifferent  shoes.  But 
Peter  Ruff  thought  otherwise. 

"  You  mean  that,  after  I  have  found  him  for  you,  you 
will  still  come  out  with  me  again  sometimes?  "  he  asked 
wistfully. 

"  Of  course !  "  she  answered.  "  Whenever  I  can  without 
John  knowing,"  she  added,  with  an  unpleasant  little  laugh. 
"  If  you  only  knew  how  I  loved  the  music  and  the  theatres, 


96     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

and  this  sort  of  life !  What  a  good  time  your  wife  would 
have,  Mr.  Ruff!  "  she  added  archly. 

It  was  no  joking  matter  with  him.  He  had  to  remember 
that  he  was,  in  effect,  her  tool,  that  she  was  making  use  of 
him,  willing  to  betray  her  former  lover  at  her  husband's 
bidding.  It  was  enough  to  make  him,  on  his  side,  burn  for 
revenge !  Yet  he  put  the  thought  away  from  him  with  a 
shiver.  She  was  still  the  woman  he  had  loved  —  she  was 
still  sacred  to  him !  That  night  he  pleaded  an  engagement, 
and  sent  her  home  in  a  taxicab  alone. 

John  Dory,  waiting  patiently  at  home  for  his  wife's  re- 
turn, felt  a  certain  uneasiness  when  she  swept  into  their 
little  sitting-room  in  all  her  cheap  splendor,  with  flushed 
cheeks  —  an  obvious  air  of  satisfaction  with  herself  and 
disdain  for  her  immediate  surroundings.  John  Dory  was 
a  common-place  looking  man  —  the  absence  of  his  collar, 
and  his  somewhat  shabby  carpet  slippers,  did  not  improve 
his  appearance.  He  had  neglected  to  shave,  and  he  was 
drinking  beer.  At  headquarters  he  was  not  considered 
quite  the  smart  young  officer  which  he  had  once  shown  signs 
of  becoming. 

He  looked  at  his  wife  with  darkening  face,  and  his  wife, 
on  her  part,  thought  of  Peter  Ruff  in  his  immaculate 
evening  clothes. 

"  Well,"  he  remarked,  grumblingly,  "  you  seem  to  find 
a  good  deal  of  pleasure  in  this  gadding  about !  " 

She  threw  her  soiled  fan  on  the  table. 

"  If  I  do,"  she  answered,  "  you  are  not  the  one  to  sit 
there  and  reproach  me  with  it,  are  you.''  " 

"  It 's  gone  far  enough,  anyway,"  John  Dory  said. 
*'  It 's  gone  further  than  I  meant  it  to  go.  Understand 
me,  Maud  —  it 's  finished !  I  '11  find  your  old  sweetheart 
for  myself." 

She  laughed  heartily. 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  97 

"  You  need  n't  trouble,"  she  answered,  with  a  little  toss 
of  the  head.  "  I  am  not  such  a  fool  as  you  seem  to  think 
me.    Mr.  Ruff  has  made  an  appointment  with  him." 

There  was  a  change  in  John  Dory's  face.  The  man's 
eyes  were  bright  —  they  almost  glittered. 

"  You  mean  that  your  friend  Mr.  Ruff  is  going  to 
produce  Spencer  Fitzgerald?  "  he  exclaimed. 

"  He  has  promised  to,"  she  answered.  "  John,"  she 
declared,  throwing  herself  into  an  easy-chair,  "  I  feel 
horrid  about  it.  I  wonder  what  Mr.  Ruff  will  think  when 
he  knows !  " 

"  You  can  feel  how  you  like,"  John  Dory  answered 
bluntly,  "  so  long  as  I  get  the  handcuffs  on  Spencer 
Fitzgerald's  wrists !  " 

She  shuddered.     She  looked  at  her  husband  with  distaste. 

"  Don't  talk  about  it !  "  she  begged  sharply.  '"  It  makes 
me  feel  the  meanest  creature  that  ever  crawled.  I  can't 
help  feeling,  too,  that  Mr.  Ruff  will  think  me  a  wretch  — 
quite  the  gentleman  he  's  been  all  the  time !  I  never  knew 
any  one  half  so  nice !  " 

John  Dory  set  down  his  empty  glass. 

"  I  wonder,"  he  said,  looking  at  her  thoughtfully,  "  what 
made  him  take  such  a  fancy  to  you!  Rather  sudden, 
was  n't  it,  eh?  " 

Maud  tossed  her  head. 

"  I  don't  see  anything  so  wonderful  about  that,"  she 
declared. 

"  Listen  to  me,  INIaud,"  her  husband  said,  rising  to  his 
feet.  "  You  are  n't  a  fool  —  not  quite.  You  've  spent 
some  time  with  Peter  Ruff.  How  much  —  think  carefully 
—  how  much  does  he  remind  you  of  Spencer  Fitzgerald  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all,"  she  answered  promptly.  "  Why,  he  is 
years  older,  and  though  Spencer  was  quite  the  gentleman, 
there  's  something  about  Mr.  Ruff,  and  the  way  he  dresses 


98     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

and  knows  his  way  about  —  well,  you  can  tell  he  's  been  a 
gentleman  all  his  life." 

John  Dory's  face  fell. 

"  Think  again,"  he  said. 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  Can't  see  any  likeness,"  she  declared.  "  He  did  remind 
me  a  little  of  him  just  at  first,  though,"  she  added,  re- 
flectively —  "  little  things  he  said,  and  sort  of  mannerisms. 
I  've  sort  of  lost  sight  of  them  the  last  few  times,  though." 

*' When  is  this  meeting  with  Fitzgerald  to  come  off.'^  " 
John  Dory  asked  abruptly. 

She  did  not  answer  him  at  once.  A  low,  triumphant 
smile  had  parted  her  lips. 

"  To-morrow  night,"  she  said ;  "  he  is  to  meet  me  in 
Mr.  Ruff's  office." 

"  At  what  time.''  "  John  Dory  asked. 

"  At  eight  o'clock,"  she  answered.  "  Mr.  Ruff  is  keeping 
his  office  open  late  on  purpose.  Spencer  thinks  that  after- 
wards he  is  going  to  take  me  out  to  dinner." 

"  You  are  sure  of  this  ?  "  John  Dory  asked  eagerly. 
"  You  are  sure  that  the  man  Ruff  does  not  suspect  you.** 
You  believe  he  means  that  you  shall  meet  Fitzgerald.'*  " 

"  I  am  sure  of  it,"  she  answered.  "  He  is  even  a  little 
jealous,"  she  continued,  with  an  affected  laugh.  "  He  told 
me  —  well,  never  mind !  " 

"He  told  you  what.''"  John  Dory  asked. 

She  laughed. 

"  Never  you  mind,"  she  said.  "  I  have  done  what  you 
asked  me,  anyway.  If  Mr.  Ruff  had  not  found  me  an  agree- 
able companion,  he  would  not  have  bothered  about  getting 
Spencer  to  meet  me.  And  now  he  's  done  it,"  she  added, 
*'  I  do  believe  he  's  a  little  jealous." 

John  Dory  glared,  but  he  said  nothing.  It  seemed  to 
him  that  his  hour  of  revenge  was  close  at  hand ! 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  99 

It  was  the  first  occasion  upon  which  words  of  this  sort 
had  passed  between  Peter  Ruff  and  his  secretary.  There 
was  no  denying  the  fact  that  Miss  Violet  Brown  was  in  a 
passion.  It  was  an  hour  past  the  time  at  which  she  usually 
left  the  office.  For  an  hour  she  had  pleaded,  and  Peter 
Ruff  remained  immoved. 

"  You  are  a  fool !  "  she  cried  to  him  at  last.  "  I  am  a 
fool,  too,  that  I  have  ever  wasted  my  thoughts  and  time 
upon  you.  Why  can't  I  make  you  see.'*  In  every  other 
way,  heaven  knows,  you  are  clever  enough !  And  yet  there 
comes  this  vulgar,  commonplace,  tawdry  little  woman  from 
heaven  knows  where,  and  makes  such  a  fool  of  you  that 
you  are  willing  to  fling  away  your  career  —  to  hold  your 
wrists  out  for  John  Dory's  handcuffs !  " 

"  My  dear  Violet,"  Peter  Ruff  answered  deprecatingly, 
"  you  really  worry  me  —  you  do  indeed !  " 

"  Not  half  so  much  as  you  worry  me,"  she  declared. 
*'  Look  at  the  time.  It 's  already  past  seven.  At  eight 
o'clock  Mrs.  Dory  —  your  Maud  —  is  coming  in  here 
hoping  to  find  her  old  sweetheart." 

"  Why  not .''  "  he  murmured. 

"  Why  not,  indeed.''  "  Miss  Brown  answered  angrily. 
"  Don't  you  know  —  can't  you  believe  —  that  close  on  her 
heels  will  come  her  husband  —  that  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald, 
if  ever  he  comes  to  life  in  this  room,  will  leave  it  between 
two  policemen.''  " 

Peter  Ruff  sighed. 

"  What  a  pessimist  you  are,  my  dear  Violet !  "  he  said. 

She  came  up  to  him  and  laid  her  hands  upon  his 
shoulders. 

"  Peter,"  she  said,  "  I  will  tell  you  something  —  I  must ! 
I  am  fond  of  you,  Peter.  I  always  have  been.  Don't  make 
me  miserable  if  there  is  no  need  for  it.  Tell  me  honestly  — 
do  you  really  believe  in  this  woman.''  " 


100     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

He  removed  her  hands  gently,  and  raised  them  to  his 
lips. 

"  My  dear  girl,"  he  said,  "  I  believe  in  every  one  until 
I  find  them  out.  I  look  upon  suspicion  as  a  vice.  But,  at 
the  same  time,"  he  added,  "  there  are  always  certain  pre- 
cautions which  one  takes." 

"What  precautions  can  you  take.^""  she  cried.  "Can 
you  sit  there  and  make  yourself  invisible  .^  John  Dory  is 
not  a  fool.  The  moment  he  is  in  this  room  with  the  door 
closed  behind  him,  it  is  the  end." 

"  We  must  hope  not,"  Peter  Ruff  said  cheerfully. 
"  There  are  other  things  which  may  happen,  you  know." 

She  turned  away  from  him  a  little  drearily. 

"You  do  not  mind  if  I  stay?"  she  said.  "I  am  not 
working  to-night.     Perhaps,  later  on,  I  may  be  of  use !  " 

"  As  you  will,"  he  answered.  "  You  will  excuse  me  for 
a  little  time,  won't  you?  I  have  some  preparations  to 
make." 

She  turned  her  head  away  from  him.  He  left  the  room 
and  ascended  the  stairs  to  his  own  apartments. 

Eight  o'clock  was  striking  from  St.  Martin's  Church 
when  the  door  of  Peter  Ruff's  offices  was  softly  opened  and 
closed  again.  A  man  in  a  slouch  hat  and  overcoat  entered, 
and  after  feeling  along  the  wall  for  a  moment,  turned  up 
the  electric  light.  Violet  Brown  rose  from  her  place  with 
a  little  sob.     She  stretched  out  her  hand  to  him. 

"  Peter !  "  she  cried.    "  Peter !  " 

"  My  name,"  the  newcomer  said  calmly,  "  is  Mr.  Spencer 
Fitzgerald." 

"  Oh,  listen  to  me !  "  she  begged.  "  There  is  still  time,  if 
you  hurry.  Think  how  many  clever  men  before  you  have 
been  deceived  by  the  woman  in  whom  they  trusted.  Please, 
please  go  !    Hurry  upstairs  and  put  those  things  away." 

"  Madam,"  the  newcomer  said,  "  I  am  much  obliged  to 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  loi 

you  for  your  interest,  but  I  think  that  you  are  making  a 
mistake.     I  have  come  here  to  meet  —  " 

He  stopped  short.  There  was  a  soft  knocking  at  the 
door.     A  stifled  scream  broke  from  Violet  Brown's  lips. 

"  It  is  too  late !  "  she  cried.    "  Peter !    Peter !  " 

She  sank  into  her  chair  and  covered  her  face  with  her 
hands.  The  door  was  opened  and  Maud  came  in.  When 
she  saw  who  it  was  who  sat  in  Peter  Ruff's  place,  she  gave 
a  little  cry.  Perhaps,  after  all,  she  had  not  believed  that 
this  thing  would  happen. 

"  Spencer !  "  she  cried,  "  Spencer !  Have  you  really 
come  back.f'  " 

He  held  out  his  hands. 

"  You  are  glad  to  see  me .''  "  he  asked. 

She  came  slowly  forward.  The  man  rose  from  his  place 
and  came  towards  her  with  outstretched  hands.  Then 
through  the  door  came  John  Dory,  and  one  caught  a 
glimpse  of  others  behind  him. 

"  If  my  wife  is  not  glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Spencer  Fitz- 
gerald," he  said,  in  a  tone  from  which  he  vainly  tried  to 
keep  the  note  of  triumph,  "  I  can  assure  you  that  I  am. 
You  slipped  away  from  me  cleverly  at  Daisy  Villa,  but 
this  time  I  think  you  will  not  find  it  so  easy." 

Maud  shrank  back,  and  her  husband  took  her  place. 
But  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald  looked  upon  them  both  as 
one  who  looks  upon  figures  in  a  dream.  Miss  Brown  rose 
hurriedly  from  her  seat.  She  came  over  to  him  and  thrust 
her  arm  through  his. 

"  Peter,"  she  said,  taking  his  hand  in  hers,  "  don't  shoot. 
It  is  n't  worth  while.  You  should  have  listened  to 
me." 

The  little  man  In  the  gold-rimmed  spectacles  looked  at 
her,  looked  at  Mr.  John  Dory,  looked  at  the  woman  who 
was  shrinking  back  now  against  the  wall. 


102     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Really,"  he  said,  "  this  is  the  most  extraordinary  situ- 
ation in  which  I  ever  found  myself !  " 

"  We  will  help  you  to  realize  it,"  John  Dory  cried,  and 
the  triumph  in  his  tone  had  swelled  into  a  deeper  note.  "  I 
came  here  to  arrest  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  but  I  hear  this  young 
lady  call  you  *  Peter.'  Perhaps  this  may  be  the 
solution  —  " 

The  little  man  struck  the  table  with  the  flat  of  his  hand. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "  this  is  getting  a  bit  too  thick.  First 
of  all  —  you,"  he  said,  turning  to  Miss  Brown  —  "  my 
name  is  not  Peter,  and  I  have  no  idea  of  shooting  anybody. 
As  for  that  lady  against  the  wall,  I  don't  know  her  — 
never  saw  her  before  in  my  life.  As  for  you,"  he  added, 
turning  to  John  Dory,  "  you  talk  about  arresting  me  — 
what  for.?  " 

Mr.  John  Dory  smiled. 

"  There  is  an  old  warrant,"  he  said,  "  which  I  have  in 
my  pocket,  but  I  fancy  that  there  are  a  few  little  things 
since  then  which  we  may  have  to  inquire  into." 

"  This  beats  me !  "  the  little  man  declared.  "  Who  do 
you  think  I  am?  " 

"  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald,  to  start  with,"  John  Dory 
said.  "  It  seems  to  me  not  impossible  that  we  may  find 
another  pseudonym   for  you." 

"  You  can  find  as  many  as  you  like,"  the  little  man 
answered  testily,  "  but  my  name  is  James  Fitzgerald,  and 
I  am  an  actor  employed  at  the  Shaftesburi/  Theatre,  as  I 
can  prove  with  the  utmost  ease.  I  never  called  myself 
Spencer;  nor,  to  my  knowledge,  was  I  ever  called  by  such 
a  name.  Nor,  as  I  remarked  before,  have  I  ever  seen  any 
one  of  you  three  people  before  with  the  exception  of  Miss 
Brown  here,  whom  I  have  seen  on  the  stage." 

John  Dory  grunted. 

"  It  was  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald,"  he  said,  "  a  clerk  in 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  103 

Howell  &  Wilson's  book-shop,  who  leapt  out  of  the  window 
of  Daisy  Villa  two  years  ago.  It  may  be  Mr.  James  Fitz- 
gerald now.  Gentlemen  of  your  profession  have  a  knack 
of  changing  their  names." 

"  My  profession  's  as  good  as  yours,  anyway !  "  the  little 
man  exclaimed.  "  We  are  n't  all  fools  in  it !  My  friend 
Mr.  Peter  Ruff  said  to  me  that  there  was  a  young  lady 
whom  I  used  to  know  who  was  anxious  to  meet  me  again, 
and  would  I  step  round  here  about  eight  o'clock.  Here 
I  am,  and  all  I  can  say  is,  if  that 's  the  young  lady,  I  never 
saw  her  before  in  my  life." 

There  was  a  moment's  breathless  silence.  Then  the  door 
was  softly  opened.  Violet  Brown  went  staggering  back 
like  a  woman  who  sees  a  ghost.  She  bit  her  lips  till  the 
blood  came.  It  was  Peter  Ruff  who  stood  looking  in  upon 
them  —  Peter  Ruff  carefully  dressed  in  evening  clothes,  his 
silk  hat  at  exactly  the  correct  angle,  his  coat  and  white 
kid  gloves  upon  his  arm. 

"  Dear  me,"  he  said,  "  you  don't  seem  to  be  getting  on 
very  well!  Mr.  Dory,"  he  added,  with  a  note  of  surprise 
in  his  tone,  "  this  is  indeed  an  unexpected  pleasure !  " 

The  man  who  stood  by  the  desk  turned  to  him.  The 
others  were  stricken  dumb. 

"  Look  here,"  he  said,  "  there  's  some  mistake.  You  told 
me  to  come  here  at  eight  o'clock  to  meet  a  young  lady 
whom  I  used  to  know.  Well,  I  never  saw  her  before  in  my 
life,"  he  added,  pointing  to  Maud.  "  There  's  a  man  there 
who  wants  to  arrest  me  —  Lord  knows  what  for!  And 
here  's  Miss  Brown,  whom  I  have  seen  at  the  theatre  several 
times,  but  who  never  condescended  to  speak  to  me  before, 
telling  me  not  to  shoot!  What's  it  all  about,  Ruff.^  Is 
it  a  practical  joke?  " 

Peter  Ruff  laid  down  his  coat  and  hat,  and  sat  upon 
the  table  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets. 


104    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Is  it  possible,"  he  said,  "  that  I  have  made  a  mistake? 
Is  n't  your  second  name  Spencer?  " 

The  man  shook  his  head. 

"  My  name  is  James  Fitzgerald,"  he  said.  "  I  have  n't 
missed  a  day  at  the  Shaftesbury  Theatre  for  three  years, 
as  you  can  find  out  by  going  round  the  corner.  I  never 
called  myself  Spencer,  I  was  never  in  a  book-shop,  and  I 
never  saw  that  lady  before  in  my  life." 

Maud  came  out  from  her  place  against  the  wall,  and 
leaned  eagerly  forward.  John  Dory  turned  his  head 
slowly  towards  his  wife.  A  sickening  fear  had  arisen  in 
his  heart  —  gripped  him  by  the  throat.  Fooled  once  more, 
and  by  Peter  Ruff ! 

"  It  is  n't  Spencer !  "  Maud  said  huskily.  "  Mr.  Ruff," 
she  added,  turning  to  him,  "  you  know  very  well  that  this 
is  not  the  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald  whom  you  promised  to 
bring  here  to-night  —  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald  to  whom  I 
was  once  engaged." 

Peter  Ruff  pointed  to  the  figure  of  her  husband. 

"  Madam,"  he  said,  "  my  invitation  did  not  include  your 
husband." 

John  Dory  took  a  step  forward,  and  laid  his  hands 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  man  who  called  himself  Mr. 
James  Fitzgerald.  He  looked  into  his  face  long  and  care- 
fully. Then  he  turned  away,  and,  gripping  his  wife  by 
the  arm,  he  passed  out  of  the  room.  The  door  slammed 
behind  him.  The  sound  of  heavy  footsteps  was  heard 
descending  to  the  floor  below. 

Violet  Brown  crossed  the  room  to  where  Peter  Ruff  was 
still  sitting  with  a  queer  look  upon  his  face,  and,  gripping 
him  by  the  shoulders,  shook  him. 

"  How  dare  you ! "  she  exclaimed.  "  How  dare 
you!  Do  you  know  that  I  have  nearly  cried  my 
eves    out?  " 


DELILAH    FROM    STREATHAM  105 

Peter  Ruff  came  back  from  the  world  into  which,  for  the 
moment,  his  thoughts  had  taken  him. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  you  have  known  me  for  some  years. 
You  have  been  my  secretary  for  some  months.  If  you 
choose  still  to  take  me  for  a  fool,  I  cannot  help  it." 

"  But,"  she  exclaimed,  pointing  to  Mr.  James 
Fitzgerald  — 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  I  have  been  practising  on  him  for  some  time,"  he  said, 
with  an  air  of  self-satisfaction. 

*'  A  thin,  mobile  face,  you  see,  and  plenty  of  experience 
in  the  art  of  making  up.  It  is  astonishing  what  one  can 
do  if  one  tries." 

Mr.  James  Fitzgerald  picked  up  his  hat  and  coat. 

"  It  was  worth  more  than  five  quid,"  he  growled ;  "  when 
I  saw  the  handcuffs  in  that  fellow's  hand,  I  felt  a  cold 
shiver  go  down  my  spine." 

Peter  Ruff  counted  out  two  banknotes  and  passed  them 
to  his   confederate. 

"  You  have  earned  the  money,"  he  said.  "  Go  and 
spend  it.  Perhaps,  Violet,"  he  added,  turning  towards  her, 
*'  I  have  been  a  little  inconsiderate.  Come  and  have  dinner 
with  me,  and  forget  it." 

She  drew  a  little  sigh. 

"  You  are  sure,"  she  murmured,  "  that  you  would  n't 
rather  take  Maud.''  " 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA 

Westward  sped  the  little  electric  brougham,  driven 
without  regard  to  police  regulations  or  any  rule  of  the 
road :  silent  and  swift,  wholly  regardless  of  other  vehicles 
—  as  though,  indeed,  its  occupants  were  assuming  to 
themselves  the  rights  of  Royalty.  Inside,  Peter  Ruff,  a 
little  breathless,  was  leaning  forward,  tying  his  white 
cravat  with  the  aid  of  the  little  polished  mirror  set  in  the 
middle  of  the  dark  green  cushions.  At  his  right  hand  was 
Lady  Mary,  watching  his  proceedings  with  an  air  of 
agonized  impatience. 

"  Let  me  tell  you  —  "  she  begged. 

"  Kindly  wait  till  I  have  tied  this  and  put  my  studs  in," 
Peter  Ruff  interrupted.  "  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  arrive 
at  a  ball  in  this  condition,  and  I  cannot  give  my  whole 
attention  to  more  than  one  thing  at  a  time." 

"  We  shall  be  there  in  five  minutes !  "  she  exclaimed. 
"  What  is  the  good,  unless  you  understand,  of  your  coming 
at  all?" 

Peter  Ruff  surveyed  his  tie  critically.  Fortunately,  it 
pleased  him.  He  began  to  press  the  studs  into  their  places 
with  firm  fingers.  Around  them  surged  the  traffic  of  Pic- 
cadilly ;  in  front,  the  gleaming  arc  of  lights  around  Hyde 
Park  Corner.  They  had  several  narrow  escapes.  Once  the 
brougham  swayed  dangerously  as  they  cut  in  on  the  wron;^ 


THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA      107 

side  of  an  island  lamp-post.  A  policeman  shouted  after 
them,  another  held  up  his  hand  —  the  driver  of  the 
brougham  took  no  notice. 

"  I  am  ready,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  quietly. 

"  My  younger  brother  —  Maurice,"  she  began,  breath- 
lessly —  "you  've  never  met  him,  I  know,  but  you  've  heard 
me  speak  of  him.  He  is  private  secretary  to  Sir  James 
Wentley  —  " 

"  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  ?  "  Ruff  asked,  swiftly. 

"  Yes !  Maurice  wants  to  go  in  for  the  Diplomatic 
Service.     He  is  a  dear,  and  so  clever !  " 

"Is  it  Maurice  who  is  in  trouble.''  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 
"  Why  did  n't  he  come  himself?  " 

"  I  am  trying  to  explain,"  Lady  Mary  protested.  "  This 
afternoon  he  had  an  important  paper  to  turn  into  cipher 
and  hand  over  to  the  Prime  Minister  at  the  Duchess  of 
Montford's  dance  to-night.  The  Prime  Minister  will  arrive 
in  a  motor-car  from  the  country  at  about  two  o'clock,  and 
the  first  thing  he  will  ask  for  will  be  that  paper.  It  has 
been  stolen !  " 

"  At  what  time  did  your  brother  finish  copying  it,  and 
\\hen  did  he  discover  its  loss?  "  Ruff  asked,  with  a  slight 
air  of  weariness.  These  preliminary  inquiries  always 
bored  him. 

"  He  finished  it  in  his  own  rooms  at  half-past  seven," 
Lady  Mary  answered.  "  He  discovered  its  loss  at  eleven 
o'clock  —  directly  he  had  arrived  at  the  ball." 

"Why  didn't  he  come  to  me  himself?"  Peter  Ruff 
asked.     "  I  like  to  have  these  particulars  at  first  hand." 

"  He  is  in  attendance  upon  Sir  James  at  the  ball,"  Lady 
Mary  answered.  "  There  is  trouble  in  the  East,  as  you 
know,  and  Sir  James  is  expecting  dispatches  to-night. 
Maurice  is  not  allowed  to  leave." 

"  Has  he  told  Sir  James  yet?  " 


io8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  He  had  not  when  I  left,"  Lady  Mary  answered.  "  If 
he  is  forced  to  do  so,  it  will  be  ruin !  Mr.  Ruff,  you  must 
help  us.  Maurice  is  such  a  dear,  but  a  mistake  like  this, 
at  the  very  beginning  of  his  career,  would  be  fatal.  Here 
we  are.     That  is  my  brother  waiting  just  inside  the  hall." 

A  young  man  came  up  to  them  in  the  vestibule.  He 
was  somewhat  pale,  but  otherwise  perfectly  self-possessed. 
From  the  shine  of  his  glossy  black  hair  to  the  tips  of  his 
patent  boots  he  was,  in  appearance,  everything  that  a 
young  Englishman  of  birth  and  athletic  tastes  could  hope 
to  be.  Peter  Ruff  liked  the  look  of  him.  He  waited  for 
no  introduction,  but  laid  his  hand  at  once  upon  the  young 
man's  shoulder. 

"  Between  seven-thirty  and  arriving  here,"  he  said, 
drawing  him  on  one  side  —  "  quick !  Tell  me,  whom  did 
you  see?  What  opportunities  were  there  of  stealing  the 
paper,  and  by  whom?  " 

"  I  finished  it  at  five  and  twenty  past  seven,"  the  young 
man  said,  "  sealed  it  in  an  official  envelope,  and  stood  it  up 
on  my  desk  by  the  side  of  my  coat  and  hat  and  muffler, 
which  my  servant  had  laid  there,  ready  for  me  to  put  on. 
My  bedroom  opens  out  from  my  sitting-room.  While  I 
was  dressing,  two  men  called  for  me  —  Paul  Jermyn  and 
Count  von  Hern.  They  walked  through  to  my  bedroom 
first,  and  then  sat  together  in  the  sitting-room  until  I  came 
out.  The  door  was  wide  open,  and  we  talked  all  the 
time." 

"They  called  accidentally?"  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  No  —  by  appointment,"  the  young  man  replied.  "  We 
were  all  coming  on  here  to  the  dance,  and  we  had  agreed 
to  dine  together  first  at  the  Savoy. '^ 

"  You  say  that  you  left  the  paper  on  your  desk  with 
your  coat  and  hat?"  Peter  Ruff  asked.  "Was  it  there 
when  you  came  out?  " 


THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA      109 

"  Apparently  so,"  the  young  man  answered.  "  It  seemed 
to  be  standing  in  exactly  the  same  place  as  where  I  had 
left  it.  I  put  it  into  my  breast  pocket,  and  it  was  only 
when  I  arrived  here  that  I  fancied  the  envelope  seemed 
lighter.  I  went  off  by  myself  and  tore  it  open.  There  was 
nothing  inside  but  half  a  newspaper ! " 

"  What  about  the  envelope?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked.  "  That 
must  have  been  the  same  sort  of  one  as  you  had  used  or 
you  would  have  noticed  it?  " 

"  It  was,"  the  Honorable  Maurice  answered. 

"  It  was  a  sort  which  you  kept  in  your  room?  " 

"  Yes !  "  the  young  man  admitted. 

"  The  packet  was  changed,  then,  by  some  one  in  your 
room,  or  some  one  who  had  access  to  it,"  Peter  Ruff  said. 
"  How  about  your  servant  ?  " 

"  It  was  his  evening  off.  I  let  him  put  out  my  things 
and  go  at  seven  o'clock." 

"  You  must  tell  me  the  nature  of  the  contents  of  the 
packet,"  Peter  Ruff  declared.  "  Don't  hesitate.  You  must 
do  it.     Remember  the  alternative." 

The  young  man  did  hesitate  for  several  moments,  but  a 
glance  into  his  sister's  appealing  face  decided  him. 

"  It  was  our  official  reply  to  a  secret  communica- 
tion from  Russia  respecting  —  a  certain  matter  in  the 
Balkans." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"Where  is  Count  von  Hern?  "  he  asked  abruptly. 

"  Inside,  dancing." 

"  I  must  use  a  telephone  at  once,"  Peter  Ruff  said. 
**  Ask  one  of  the  servants  here  where  I  can  find  one." 

Peter  Ruff  was  conducted  to  a  gloomy  waiting-room,  on 
the  table  of  which  stood  a  small  telephone  instrument.  He 
closed  the  door,  but  he  was  absent  for  only  a  few  minutes. 
When  he  rejoined  Lady  Mary  and  her  brother  they  were 


h 


no     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

talking  together  in  agitated  whispers.  The  latter  turned 
towards  him  at  once. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  suspect  Count  von  Hem.''  "  he 
asked,  doubtfully.  "  He  is  a  friend  of  the  Danish  Minis- 
ter's, and  every  one  says  that  he  's  such  a  good  chap.  He 
does  n't  seem  to  take  the  slightest  interest  in  politics  — 
spends  nearly  all  his  time  hunting  or  playing  polo." 

"  I  don't  suspect  any  one,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  I 
only  know  that  Count  von  Hern  is  an  Austrian  spy,  and 
that  he  took  your  paper !  Has  he  been  out  of  your  sight 
at  all  since  you  rejoined  him  in  the  sitting-room?  I  mean 
to  say  —  had  he  any  opportunity  of  leaving  you  during 
the  time  you  were  dining  together,  or  did  he  make  any 
calls  en  route,  either  on  the  way  to  the  Savoy  or  from 
the  Savoy  here  ?  " 

The  young  man  shook  his  head. 

"  He  has  not  been  out  of  my  sight  for  a  second." 

"  Who  is  the  other  man  —  Jermyn .''  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 
*'  I  never  heard  of  him." 

"  An  American  —  cousin  of  the  Duchess.  He  could  not 
have  had  the  slightest  interest  in  the  affair." 

"  Please  take  me  into  the  ball-room,"  Peter  Ruff  said  to 
Lady  Mary.  "  Your  brother  had  better  not  come  with  us. 
I  want  to  be  as  near  the  Count  von  Hern  as  possible." 

They  passed  into  the  crowded  rooms,  unnoticed,  pur- 
posely avoiding  the  little  space  where  the  Duchess  was  still 
receiving  the  late  comers  among  her  guests.  They  found 
progress  difficult,  and  Lady  Mary  felt  her  heart  sink  as 
she  glanced  at  the  little  jeweled  watch  which  hung  from 
her  wrist.     Suddenly  Peter  Ruff  came  to  a  standstill. 

"  Don't  look  for  a  moment,"  he  said,  "  but  tell  me  as 
soon  as  you  can  —  who  is  that  tall  young  man,  like  a 
Goliath,  talking  to  the  little  dark  woman.'*  You  see  whom 
I  mean  ?  " 


THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA      iii 

Lady  Mary  nodded,  and  they  passed  on.  In  a  moment 
or  two  she  answered  him. 

"  How  strange  that  you  should  ask !  "  she  whispered  in 
his  ear.     "  That  is  Mr.  Jerniyn." 

They  were  on  the  outskirts  now  of  the  ball-room  itself. 
One  of  Lady  Mary's  partners  came  up  with  an  open 
program  and  a  face  full  of  reproach. 

"  Do  please  forgive  me,  Captain  Henderson,"  Lady 
Mary  begged.  "  I  have  hurt  my  foot,  and  I  am  not  dancing 
any  more." 

"  But  surely  I  was  to  take  you  in  to  supper  ?  "  the 
young  officer  protested,  good-humoredly.  "  Don't  tell  me 
that  you  are  going  to  cut  that?" 

"  I  am  going  to  cut  everything  to-night  with  everybody," 
Lady  Mary  said.  "  Please  forgive  me.  Come  to  tea 
to-morrow  and  I  '11  explain." 

The  young  man  bowed,  and,  with  a  curious  glance  at 
Ruff,  accepted  his  dismissal.  Another  partner  was  simply 
waved   away. 

"  Please  turn  round  and  come  back,"  Peter  Ruff  said. 
"  I  want  to  see  those  two  again." 

"  But  we  have  n't  found  Count  von  Hern  yet,"  she  pro- 
tested. "  Surely  that  is  more  important,  is  it  not.''  I 
believe  that  I  saw  him  dancing  just  now  —  there,  with  the 
tall  girl  in  yellow." 

"  Never  mind  about  him,  for  the  moment,"  Ruff  an- 
swered. "  Walk  down  this  corridor  with  me.  Do  you 
mind  talking  all  the  time,  please.'^  It  will  sound  more 
natural,  and  I  want  to  listen." 

The  young  American  and  his  partner  had  found  a  more 
retired  seat  now,  about  three-quarters  of  the  way  down  the 
pillared  vestibule  which  bordered  the  ball-room.  He  was 
bending  over  his  companion  with  an  air  of  unmistakable 
devotion,  but  it  was  she  who  talked.     She  seemed,  indeed,  to 


112     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

have  a  good  deal  to  say  to  him.  The  slim  white  fingers 
of  one  hand  played  all  the  time  with  a  string  of  magnificent 
pearls.  Her  dark,  soft  eyes  —  black  as  aloes  and  abso- 
lutely un-English  —  flashed  into  his.  A  delightful  smile 
hovered  at  the  corners  of  her  lips.  All  the  time  she  was 
talking  and  he  was  listening.  Lady  Mary  and  her  partner 
passed  by  unnoticed.  At  the  end  of  the  vestibule  they 
turned  and  retraced  their  steps.  Peter  Ruff  was  very 
quiet  —  he  had  caught  a  few  of  those  rapid  words.  But 
the  woman's  foreign  accent  had  troubled  him. 

"  If  only  she  would  speak  in  her  own  language !  "  he 
muttered. 

Lady  Mary's  hand  suddenly  tightened  upon  his  arm. 

"  Look !  "  she  exclaimed.    "  That  is  Count  von  Hern  !  " 

A  tall,  fair  young  man,  very  exact  in  his  dress,  very 
stiff  in  his  carriage,  with  a  not  unpleasant  face,  was  stand- 
ing talking  to  Jermyn  and  his  companion.  Jermyn,  who 
apparently  found  the  intrusion  an  annoyance,  was  listening 
to  the  conversation  between  the  two,  with  a  frown  upon 
his  face  and  a  general  attitude  of  irritation.  As  Lady 
Mary  and  her  escort  drew  near,  the  reason  for  the  young 
American's  annoyance  became  clearer  —  his  two  compan- 
ions were  talking  softly,  but  with  great  animation,  in  a 
foreign  language,  which  it  was  obvious  that  he  did  not 
understand.  Peter  Ruff's  elbow  pressed  against  his  part- 
ner's arm,  and  their  pace  slackened.  He  ventured,  even, 
to  pause  for  a  moment,  looking  into  the  ball-room  as 
though  in  search  of  some  one,  and  he  had  by  no  means  the 
appearance  of  a  man  likely  to  understand  Hungarian. 
Then,  to  Lady  Mary's  surprise,  he  touched  the  Count  von 
Hern  on  the  shoulder  and  addressed  him. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  he  said,  "  but  I  fancy  that  we 
accidentally  exchanged  programs,  a  few  minutes  ago,  at 
the  buffet.     I  have  lost  mine  and  picked  up  one  which  does 


/    / 


"  /  ivas  mistaken,'^  he  admitted. 
"I  am  'Very  sorry  J''' 

Page  IIS. 


THE   LITTLE   LADY    FROM    SERVIA      113 

not  belpng  to  me.  As  we  were  standing  side  by  side,  it  is 
possibly  yours." 

"  I  believe  not,  sir,"  he  answered,  with  that  pleasant 
smile  which  had  gone  such  a  long  way  toward  winning  him 
the  reputation  of  being  "  a  good  fellow  "  amongst  a  fairly 
large  circle  of  friends.  "  I  believe,  at  any  rate,"  he  added, 
glancing  at  his  program,  "  that  this  is  my  own.  You 
mistake  me,  probably,  for  some  one  else." 

Peter  Ruff,  without  saying  a  word,  was  actor  enough 
to  suggest  that  he  was  unconvinced.  The  Count  good- 
humoredly  held  out  his  program. 

"  You  shall  see  for  yourself,"  he  remarked.  "  That  is 
not  yours,  is  it?  Besides,  I  have  not  been  to  the  buffet  at 
all  this  evening." 

Peter  Ruff  cast  a  swift  glance  down  the  program  which 
the  Count  had  handed  him.     Then  he  apologized  profusely. 

"  I  was  mistaken,"  he  admitted.     "  I  am  very  sorry." 

The  Count  bowed. 

"  It  is  of  no  consequence,  sir,"  he  said,  and  resumed  his 
conversation. 

Peter  Ruff  passed  on  with  Lady  Mary.  At  a  safe 
distance,  she  glanced  at  him  inquiringly. 

"  It  was  his  program  I  wanted  to  see,"  Peter  Ruff  ex- 
plained. "  It  is  as  I  thought.  He  has  had  four  dances 
with  the  Countess  —  " 

"  Who  is  she?  "  Lady  Mary  asked,  quickly. 

"  The  little  dark  lady  with  whom  he  is  talking  now," 
Peter  Ruff  continued.  "  He  seems,  too,  to  be  going  early. 
He  has  no  dances  reserved  after  the  twelfth.  We  will  go 
downstairs  at  once,  if  you  please.  I  must  speak  to  your 
brother." 

"  Have  you  been  able  to  think  of  anything?  "  she  asked, 
anxiously.     "  Is  there  any  chance  at  all,  do  you  think?  " 

"  I  believe  so,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.     "  It  is  most  in- 


114     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

teresting.  Don't  be  too  sanguine,  though.  The  odds  are 
against  us,  and  the  time  is  very  short.  Is  the  driver  of  your 
electric  brougham  to  be  trusted  .^^  " 

"  Absolutely,"  she  assured  him.    "  He  is  an  old  servant," 

"  Will  you  lend  him  to  me.''  "  Peter  Ruff  asked,  "  and 
tell  him  that  he  is  to  obey  my  instructions  absolutely.''  " 

"  Of  course,"  she  answered.  "  You  are  going  away, 
then.?" 

Peter  Ruff  nodded.  He  was  a  little  sparing  of  words 
just  then.  The  thoughts  were  chasing  one  another  through 
his  brain.  He  was  listening,  too,  for  the  sweep  of  a  dress 
behind. 

"  Is  there  nothing  I  can  do  ?  "  Lady  Mary  begged, 
eagerly. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head.  In  the  distance  he  saw  the 
Honorable  Maurice  come  quickly  toward  them.  With  a 
firm  but  imperceptible  gesture  he  waved  him  away. 

"  Don't  let  your  brother  speak  to  me,"  he  said.  "  We 
can't  tell  who  is  behind.  What  time  did  you  say  the  Prime 
Minister  was  expected.''  " 

"  At  two  o'clock,"  Lady  Mary  said,  anxiously. 

Peter  Ruff  glanced  at  his  watch.  It  was  already  half 
an  hour  past  midnight. 

"  Very  well,"  he  said,  "  I  will  do  what  I  can.  If  my 
theory  is  wrong,  it  will  be  nothing.  If  I  am  right  —  well, 
there  is  a  chance,  anyhow.     In  the  meantime  —  " 

"  In  the  meantime.''  "  she  repeated,  breathlessly. 

"  Take  your  brother  back  to  the  ball-room,"  Peter 
Ruff  directed.  "  Make  him  dance  —  dance  yourself. 
Don't  give  yourselves  away  by  looking  anxious.  When 
the  time  is  short  —  say  at  a  quarter  to  two  —  he  can 
come  down  here  and  wait  for  me." 

"  If  you  don't  come !  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  Then  we  shall  have  lost,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  calmly. 


THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA      115 

"  If  you  don't  see  me  again  to-night,  you  had  better  read 
the  newspapers  carefully  for  the  next  few  days." 

"  You  are  going  to  do  something  dangerous ! "  she 
protested. 

"  There  is  danger  in  interfering  at  all  in  such  a  matter 
as  this,"  he  answered,  "  but  you  must  remember  that  it  is 
not  only  my  profession  —  it  is  my  hobby.  Remember, 
too,"  he  added,  with  a  smile,  "  that  I  do  not  often  lose !  " 

For  twenty  minutes  Peter  Ruff  sat  in  the  remote  corner 
of  Lady  Mary's  electric  brougham,  drawn  up  at  the  other 
side  of  the  Square,  and  waited.  At  last  he  pressed  a  but- 
ton. They  glided  off.  Before  them  was  a  large,  closed 
motor-car.     They  started  in  discreet  chase. 

Fortunately,  however,  the  chase  was  not  a  long  one. 
The  car  which  Peter  Ruff  had  been  following  was  drawn 
up  before  a  plain,  solid-looking  house,  unlit  and  of  gloomy 
appearance.  The  little  lady  with  the  wonderful  eyes  was 
already  half-way  up  the  flagged  steps.  Hastily  lifting  the 
flap  and  looking  behind  as  they  passed,  her  pursuer  saw 
her  open  the  door  with  a  latch-key,  and  disappear.  Peter 
Ruff  pulled  the  check-string  and  descended.  For  several 
moments  he  stood  and  observed  the  house  into  which  the 
lady  whom  he  had  been  following  had  disappeared.  Then 
he  turned  to  the  driver. 

"  I  want  you  to  watch  that  house,"  he  said,  "  never  to 
take  your  eyes  off  it.  When  I  reappear  from  it,  if  I  do  at 
all,  I  shall  probably  be  in  a  hurry.  Directly  you  see  me 
be  on  your  box  ready  to  start.  A  good  deal  may  depend 
upon  our  getting  away  quickly." 

"  Very  good,  sir,"  the  man  answered.  "  How  long  am 
I  to  wait  here  for  you?  " 

Peter  Ruff's  lips  twisted  into  a  curious  little  smile. 

"  Until  two  o'clock,"  he  answered.  "  If  I  am  not  out 
by  then,  you  need  n't  bother  any  more  about  me.      You 


ii6     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

can  return  and  tell  your  mistress  exactly  what  has 
happened." 

"  Had  n't  I  better  come  and  try  and  get  you  out,  sir?  " 
the  man  asked.  "  Begging  your  pardon,  but  her  Ladyship 
told  me  that  there  might  be  queer  doings.  I  'm  a  bit  useful 
in  a  scrap,  sir,"  he  added.  "I  do  a  bit  of  sparring 
regularly." 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  If  there  's  any  scrap  at  all,"  he  said,  "  you  had  better 
be  out  of  it.    Do  as  I  have  said." 

The  motor-car  had  turned  round  and  disappeared  now, 
and  in  a  few  moments  Peter  Ruff  stood  before  the  door  of 
the  house  into  which  the  little  lady  had  disappeared.  The 
problem  of  entrance  was  already  solved  for  him.  The  door 
had  been  left  unlatched ;  only  a  footstool  had  been  placed 
against  it  inside.  Peter  Ruff,  without  hesitation,  pushed 
the  door  softly  open  and  entered,  replaced  the  footstool  in 
its  former  position,  and  stood  with  his  back  to  the  wall,  in 
the  darkest  corner  of  the  hall,  looking  around  him  —  listen- 
ing intently.  Nearly  opposite  the  door  of  a  room  stood 
ajar.  It  was  apparently  lit  up,  but  there  was  no  sound 
of  any  one  moving  inside.  Upstairs,  in  one  of  the  rooms 
on  the  first  floor,  he  could  hear  light  footsteps  —  a  woman's 
voice  humming  a  song.  He  listened  to  the  first  few  bars, 
and  understanding  became  easier.  Those  first  few  bars 
were  the  opening  ones  of  the  Servian  national  anthem ! 

With  an  effort,  Peter  Ruff  concentrated  his  thoughts 
upon  the  immediate  present.  The  little  lady  was  upstairs. 
The  servants  had  apparently  retired  for  the  night.  He 
crept  up  to  the  half-open  door  and  peered  in.  The  room, 
as  he  had  hoped  to  find  it,  was  empty,  but  Madame's  easy- 
chair  was  drawn  up  to  the  fire,  and  some  coffee  stood  upon 
the  hob.  Stealthily  Peter  Ruff  crept  in  and  glanced 
around,  seeking  for  a  hiding-place.     A  movement  upstairs 


THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA      117 

hastened  his  decision.  He  pushed  aside  the  massive  cur- 
tains which  separated  this  from  a  connecting  room.  He 
had  scarcely  done  so  when  light  footsteps  were  heard 
descending  the  stairs. 

Peter  Ruff  found  his  hiding-place  all  that  could  have  been 
desired.  This  secondary  room  itself  was  almost  in  dark- 
ness, but  he  was  just  able  to  appreciate  the  comforting 
fact  that  it  possessed  a  separate  exit  into  the  hall. 
Through  the  folds  of  the  curtain  he  had  a  complete  view 
of  the  further  apartment.  The  little  lady  had  changed  her 
gown  of  stiff  white  satin  for  one  of  flimsier  material,  and, 
seated  in  the  easy-chair,  she  was  busy  pouring  herself  out 
some  coffee.  She  took  a  cigarette  from  a  silver  box,  and 
lighting  it,  curled  herself  up  in  the  chair  and  composed 
herself  as  though  to  listen.  To  her  as  well  as  to  Peter  Ruff, 
as  he  crouched  in  his  hiding-place,  the  moments  seemed  to 
pass  slowly  enough.  Yet,  as  he  realized  afterward,  it  could 
not  have  been  ten  minutes  before  she  sat  upright  in  a  listen- 
ing attitude.  There  was  some  one  coming!  Peter  Ruff, 
too,  heard  a  man's  firm  footsteps  come  up  the  flagged 
stones. 

The  little  lady  sprang  to  her  feet. 

"  Paul !  "  she  exclaimed. 

Paul  Jermyn  came  slowly  to  meet  her.  He  seemed  a 
little  out  of  breath.  His  tie  was  all  disarranged  and  his 
collar  unfastened.  The  little  lady,  however,  noticed  none 
of  these  things.     She  looked  only  into  his  face. 

"  Have  you  got  it.''  "  she  asked,  eagerly. 

He  thrust  his  hand  into  his  breast-coat  pocket,  and  held 
an  envelope  out  toward  her. 

"  Sure !  "  he  answered.    "  I  promised !  " 

She  gave  a  little  sob,  and  with  the  packet  in  her  hand 
came  running  straight  toward  the  spot  where  Peter  Ruff 
was   hiding.      He   shrank  back  as   far   as   possible.      She 


ii8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

stopped  just  short  of  the  curtain,  opened  the  drawer  of  a 
table  which  stood  there,  and  shpped  the  packet  in.  Then 
she  came  back  once  more  to  where  Paul  Jermyn  was 
standing. 

"  My  friend  !  "  she  cried,  holding  out  her  hands  —  "  my 
dear,  dear  friend!  Shall  I  ever  be  able  to  thank  you 
enough.''  " 

"  Why,  if  you  try,"  he  answered,  smiling,  "  I  think  that 
you  could !  " 

She  laid  her  hand  upon  his  arm  —  a  little  caressing, 
foreign  gesture. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  said,  "  how  did  you  manage  it.''  " 

"  We  left  the  dance  together,"  Jermyn  said.  "  I  could 
see  that  he  wanted  to  get  rid  of  me,  but  I  offered  to  take 
him  in  my  motor-car.  I  told  the  man  to  choose  some  back 
streets,  and  while  we  were  passing  through  one  of  them,  I 
took  Von  Hern  by  the  throat.  We  had  a  struggle,  of 
course,  but  I  got  the  paper." 

"  What  did  you  do  with  Von  Hern  ^  "  she  asked. 

"  I  left  him  on  his  doorstep,"  the  young  American  an- 
swered. "  He  was  n't  really  hurt,  but  he  was  only  half 
conscious.    I  don't  think  he  '11  bother  any  one  to-night." 

"  You  dear,  brave  man !  "  she  murmured.  "  Paul,  what 
am  I  to  say  to  you.''  " 

He  laughed. 

"  That 's  what  I  'm  here  to  ask,"  he  declared.  "  You 
would  n't  give  me  my  answer  at  the  ball.  Perhaps  you  '11 
give  it  me  now.''  " 

They  sprang  apart.  Ruff  felt  his  nerves  stiffen  —  felt 
himself  constrained  to  hold  even  his  breath  as  he  widened 
a  little  the  crack  in  the  curtains.  This  was  no  stealthy 
entrance.  The  door  had  been  flung  open.  Von  Hern,  his 
dress  in  wild  disorder,  pale  as  a  ghost,  and  with  a  great 
bloodstain  upon  his  cheek,  stood  confronting  them. 


THE    LITTLE    LADY    FROM    SERVIA       119 

"  When  you  have  done  with  your  love-making,"  he 
called  out,  "  I  '11  trouble  you  to  restore  my  property !  " 

The  electric  light  gleamed  upon  a  small  revolver  which 
flashed  out  toward  the  young  American.  Paul  Jermyn 
never  hesitated  for  a  moment.  He  seized  the  chair  by  his 
side  and  flung  it  at  Von  Hern.  There  was  a  shot,  the  crash 
of  the  falling  chair,  a  cry  from  Jermyn,  who  never  hesi- 
tated, however,  in  his  rush.  The  two  men  closed.  A  second 
shot  went  harmlessly  to  the  ceiling.  The  little  lady  stole 
away  —  stole  softly  across  the  room  toward  the  table.  She 
opened  the  drawer.  Suddenly  the  blood  in  her  veins  was 
frozen  into  fear.  From  nowhere,  it  seemed  to  her,  came  a 
hand  which  held  her  wrists  like  iron ! 

"  Madam,"  Peter  Ruff  whispered  from  behind  the  cur- 
tain, "  I  am  sorry  to  deprive  you  of  it,  but  this  is  stolen 
property." 

Her  screams  rang  through  the  room.  Even  the  two  men 
released  one  another. 

"  It  is  gone !  It  is  gone !  "  she  cried.  "  Some  one  was 
hiding  in  the  room !     Quick !  " 

She  sprang  into  the  hall.  The  two  men  followed  her. 
The  front  door  was  slammed.  They  heard  flying  footsteps 
outside.  Von  Hern  was  out  first,  clearing  the  little  flight 
of  steps  in  one  bound.  Across  the  road  he  saw  a  flying 
figure.  A  level  stream  of  fire  poured  from  his  hand  — 
twice,  three  times.  But  Peter  Ruff  never  faltered.  Round 
the  corner  he  tore.  The  man  had  kept  his  word  —  the 
brougham  was  already  moving  slowly. 

"  Jump  in,  sir,"  the  man  cried.  "  Throw  yourself  in. 
Never  mind  about  the  door." 

They  heard  the  shouts  behind.  Peter  Ruff  did  as  he 
was  bid,  and  sat  upon  the  floor,  raising  himself  gradually 
to  the  seat  when  they  had  turned  another  corner.  Then  he 
put  his  head  out  of  the  window. 


120     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Back  to  the  Duchess  of  Montford's !  "  he  ordered. 

The  latest  of  the  guests  had  ceased  to  arrive  —  a  few 
were  already  departing.  It  was  an  idle  time,  however,  with 
the  servants  who  loitered  in  the  vestibules  of  Montford 
House,  and  they  looked  with  curiosity  upon  this  strange 
guest  who  arrived  at  five  minutes  to  two,  limping  a  little, 
and  holding  his  left  arm  in  his  right  hand.  One  footman 
on  the  threshold  nearly  addressed  him,  but  the  words  were 
taken  out  of  his  mouth  when  he  saw  Lady  IMary  and 
her  brother  —  the  Honorable  Maurice  Sotherst  —  hasten 
forward  to  greet  him. 

Peter  Ruff  smiled  upon  them  benignly. 

"  You  can  take  the  paper  out  of  my  breast-coat  pocket," 
he  said. 

The  young  man's  fingers  gripped  it.  Through  Lady 
Mary's  great  thankfulness,  however,  the  sudden  fear  came 
shivering. 

"  You  are  hurt !  "  she  whispered.  "  There  is  blood  on 
your  sleeve." 

"  Just  a  graze,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  Von  Hern  was  n't 
much  good  at  a  running  target.  Back  to  the  ball-room, 
young  man,"  he  added.     "  Don't  you  see  who  's  coming?  " 

The  Prime  INIinister  came  up  the  tented  way  into  Mont- 
ford House.  He,  too,  wondered  a  little  at  the  man  whom 
he  met  on  his  way  out,  holding  his  left  arm,  and  looking 
more  as  though  he  had  emerged  from  a  street  fight  than 
from  the  Duchess  of  Montford's  ball.  Peter  Ruff  went 
home  smiling. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  DEMAND  OF  THE  DOUBLE-EOUB 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Peter  Ruff  found  among 
his  letters  one  morning  a  highly-scented  little  missive,  ad- 
dressed to  him  in  a  handwriting  with  which  he  had  once 
been  familiar.  He  looked  at  it  for  several  moments  before 
opening  it.  Even  as  the  paper  cutter  shd  through  the  top 
of  the  envelope,  he  felt  that  he  had  already  divined  the 
nature  of  its  contents. 

Frivolity  Theatre 
March  10th 
My  dear  Mb.  Ruff  : 

I  expect  that  you  will  be  surprised  to  hear  from  me  again,  but  I 
do  hope  that  you  will  not  be  annoyed.  I  know  that  I  behaved 
very  horridly  a  little  time  ago,  but  it  was  not  altogether  my  fault, 
and  I  have  been  more  sorry  for  it  than  I  can  tell  you  —  in  fact, 
John  and  I  have  never  been  the  same  since,  and  for  the  present,  at 
any  rate,  I  have  left  him  and  gone  on  the  stage.  A  lady  whom 
I  knew  got  me  a  place  in  the  chorus  here,  and  so  far  I  like  it 
immensely. 

Won't  you  come  and  meet  me  after  the  show  to-morrow  night, 
and  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it.''  I  should  like  so  much  to  see  you 
again. 

Maud. 

Peter  Ruff  placed  this  letter  in  his  breast-coat  pocket, 
and  withheld  it  from  his  secretary's  notice.  He  felt,  how- 
ever, very  little  pleasure  at  the  invitation  it  conveyed.  He 
hesitated  for  some  time,  in  fact,  whether  to  accept  it  or 


122     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

not.  Finally,  after  his  modest  dinner  that  evening,  he 
bought  a  stall  for  the  Frivolity  and  watched  the  piece.  The 
girl  he  had  come  to  see  was  there  in  the  second  row  of  the 
chorus,  but  she  certainly  did  not  look  her  best  in  the 
somewhat  scant  costume  required  by  the  part.  She  showed 
no  signs  whatever  of  any  special  ability  —  neither  her 
dancing  nor  her  singing  seemed  to  entitle  her  to  any  con- 
sideration. She  carried  herself  with  a  certain  amount  of 
self-consciousness,  and  her  eyes  seemed  perpetually  fixed 
upon  the  occupants  of  the  stalls.  Peter  Ruff  laid  down  his 
glasses  with  something  between  a  sigh  and  a  groan.  There 
was  something  to  him  inexpressibly  sad  in  the  sight  of  his 
old  sweetheart  so  transformed,  so  utterly  changed  from 
the  prim,  somewhat  genteel  young  person  who  had  accepted 
his  modest  advances  with  such  ladylike  diffidence.  She 
seemed,  indeed,  to  have  lost  those  very  gifts  which  had  first 
attracted  him.  Nevertheless,  he  kept  his  appointment  at 
the  stage-door. 

She  was  among  the  first  to  come  out,  and  she  greeted 
him  warmly  —  almost  noisily.  With  her  new  profession, 
she  seemed  to  have  adopted  a  different  and  certainly  more 
flamboyant  deportment. 

"  I  thought  you  'd  come  to-night,"  she  declared,  with 
an  arch  look.  "  I  felt  certain  I  saw  you  in  the  stalls.  You 
are  going  to  take  me  to  supper,  are  n't  you.'^  Shall  we  go 
to  the  Milan?  " 

Peter  Ruff  assented  without  enthusiasm,  handed  her  into 
a  hansom,  and  took  his  place  beside  her.  She  wore  a  very 
large  hat,  untidily  put  on ;  some  of  the  paint  seemed  still 
to  be  upon  her  face ;  her  voice,  too,  seemed  to  have  become 
louder,  and  her  manner  more  assertive.  There  were  obvious 
indications  that  she  no  longer  considered  brandy  and  soda 
an  unladylike  beverage.  Peter  Ruff  was  not  pleased  with 
himself  or  proud  of  his  companion. 


THE  DEMAND  OF  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR  123 

"  You  '11  take  some  wine?  "  he  suggested,  after  he  had 
ordered,  with  a  few  hints  from  her,  a  somewhat  extensive 
supper. 

"  Champagne,"  she  answered,  decidedly.  "  I  've  got 
quite  used  to  it,  nowadays,"  she  went  on.  "  I  could 
laugh  to  think  how  strange  it  tasted  when  you  first  took 
me  out." 

"  Tell  me,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  why  you  have  left  your 
husband.''  " 

She  laughed. 

"  Because  he  was  dull  and  because  he  was  cross,"  she 
answered,  "  and  because  the  Hfe  down  at  Streatham  was 
simply  intolerable.  I  think  it  was  a  little  ^^our  fault,  too," 
she  said,  making  eyes  at  him  across  the  table.  "  You  gave 
me  a  taste  of  what  life  was  like  outside  Streatham,  and  I 
never  forgot  it." 

Peter  Ruff  did  not  respond  —  he  led  the  conversation, 
indeed,  into  other  channels.  On  the  whole,  the  supper  was 
scarcely  a  success.  Maud,  who  was  growing  to  consider 
herself  something  of  a  Bohemian,  and  who  certainly  looked 
for  some  touch  of  sentiment  on  the  part  of  her  old  admirer, 
was  annoyed  by  the  quiet  deference  with  which  he  treated 
her.     She  reproached  him  with  it  once,  bluntly. 

"  Say,"  she  exclaimed,  "  you  don't  seem  to  want  to  be 
so  friendly  as  you  did !  You  have  n't  forgiven  me  yet,  I 
suppose.''  " 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  It  is  not  that,"  he  said,  "  but  I  think  that  you  have 
scarcely  done  a  wise  thing  in  leaving  your  husband.  I 
cannot  think  that  this  life  on  the  stage  is  good  for  you." 

She  laughed,  scornfully. 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  I  never  thought  to  have  you  preach- 
ing at  me !  " 

They  finished  their  supper.     Maud  accepted  a  cigarette 


124     PETER    RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

and  did  her  best  to  change  her  companion's  mood.  She 
only  alluded  once  more  to  her  husband. 

"  I  don't  see  how  I  could  have  stayed  with  him,  anyhow," 
she  said.  "  You  know,  he  's  been  put  back  — he  only  gets 
two  pounds  fifteen  a  week  now.  He  could  n't  expect  me  to 
live  upon  that." 

"  Put  back.?  "  Peter  Ruff  repeated. 

She  nodded. 

"  He  seemed  to  have  a  lot  of  bad  luck  this  last  year," 
she  said.  "  All  his  cases  went  wrong,  and  they  don't  think 
so  much  of  him  at  Scotland  Yard  as  they  did.  I  am  not 
sure  that  he  has  n't  begun  to  drink  a  little." 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  it,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  gravely. 

"  I  don't  see  why  you  should  be,"  she  answered,  bluntly. 
"  He  was  no  friend  of  yours,  nor  is  n't  now.  He  may  not 
be  so  dangerous  as  he  was,  but  if  ever  you  come  across 
him,  you  take  my  tip  and  be  careful.  He  means  to  do 
you  a  mischief  some  day,  if  he  can.  I  am  not  sure,"  she 
added,  "  that  he  does  n't  believe  that  it  was  partly  your 
faylt  about  my  leaving  home." 

"  I  should  be  sorry  for  him  to  think  that,"  Peter  Ruff 
answered.  "  While  we  are  upon  the  subject,  can't  you  tell 
me  exactly  why  your  husband  dislikes  me  so  ?  " 

"  For  one  thing,  because  you  have  bedn  up  against  him 
in  several  of  his  cases,  and  have  always  won." 

"And  for  the  other.?" 

"  Well,"  she  said,  doubtfully,  "  he  seems  to  connect  you 
in  his  mind,  somehow,  with  a  boy  who  was  in  love  with 
me  once  —  Mr.  Spencer  Fitzgerald  —  you  know  who  I 
mean." 

Ruff  nodded. 

"  He  still  has  that  in  his  mind,  has  he?  "  he  remarked. 

"  Oh,  he  's  mad !  "  she  declared.  "  However,  don't  let 
us  talk  about  him  any  more." 


» 


THE  DEMAND  OF  THE   DOUBLE-FOUR     125 

The  lights  were  being  put  out.  Peter  Ruff  paid  his  bill 
and  they  rose  together. 

"  Come  down  to  the  flat  for  an  hour  or  so,"  she  begged, 
taking  his  arm.  "  I  have  a  dear  little  place  with  another 
girl  —  Carrie  Pearce.  I  '11  sing  to  you,  if  you  like.  Come 
down  and  have  one  drink,  anyhow." 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head  firmly. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  he  said,  "  but  you  must  excuse  me.  In 
some  ways,  I  am  very  old-fashioned,"  he  added.  "  I  never 
sit  up  late,  and  I  hate  music." 

"  Just  drive  as  far  as  the  door  with  me,  then,"  she 
begged. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  You  must  excuse  me,"  he  said,  handing  her  into  the 
hansom.  "  And,  Maud,"  he  added  —  "if  I  may  call  you 
so  —  take  my  advice  r  give  it  up  —  go  back  to  your  hus- 
band and  stick  to  him  —  you  '11  be  better  off  in  the  long 
run." 

She  would  have  answered  him  scornfully,  but  there  was 
something  impressive  in  the  crisp,  clear  words  —  in  his  ex- 
pression, too,  as  he  looked  into  her  eyes.  She  threw  her- 
self back  in  a  corner  of  the  cab  with  an  affected  little  laugh, 
and  turned  her  head  away  from  him. 

Peter  Ruff  walked  back  into  the  cloak-room  for  his  coat 
and  hat,  and  sighed  softly  to  himself.  It  was  the  end  of 
the  one  sentimental  episode  of  his  life ! 

It  had  been  the  study  of  Peter  Ruff's  life,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  maintain  under  all  circumstances  an  equable 
temperament,  to  refuse  to  recognize  the  meaning  of  the 
word  "  nerves,"  and  to  be  guided  in  all  his  actions  by  that 
profound  common  sense  which  was  one  of  his  natural  gifts. 
Yet  there  were  times  when,  like  any  other  ordinary  person^ 
he  suffered  acutely  from  presentiments.  He  left  his  rooms, 
for  instance,  at  five  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day 


126     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

following  his  supper  with  Maud,  suffering  from  a  sense 
of  depression  for  which  he  found  it  altogether  impossible 
to  account.  It  was  true  that  the  letter  which  he  had  in 
his  pocket,  the  appointment  which  he  was  on  his  way  to 
keep,  were  both  of  them  probable  sources  of  embarrassr 
ment  and  annoyance,  if  not  of  danger.  He  was  being 
invited,  without  the  option  of  refusal,  to  enter  upon  some 
risky  undertaking  which  would  yield  him  neither  fee  nor 
reward.  Yet  his  common  sense  told  him  that  it  was  part 
of  the  game.  In  Paris,  he  had  looked  upon  his  admittance 
into  the  order  of  the  "  Double-Four  "  as  one  of  the  step- 
ping-stones to  success  in  his  career.  Through  them  he  had 
gained  knowledge  which  he  could  have  acquired  in  no  other 
way.  Through  them,  for  instance,  he  had  acquired  the 
information  that  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Pilitz  was  a 
Servian  patriot  and  a  friend  of  the  Crown  Prince ;  and 
that  the  Count  von  Hern,  posing  in  England  as  a  sports- 
man and  an  idler,  was  a  highly  paid  and  dangerous  Aus- 
trian spy.  There  had  been  other  occasions,  too,  upon 
which  they  had  come  to  his  aid.  Now  they  had  made  an 
appeal  to  him  —  an  appeal  which  must  be  obeyed.  His 
time  —  perhaps,  even,  his  safety  —  must  be  placed  en- 
tirely at  their  disposal.  It  was  only  an  ordinary  return 
—  a  thing  expected  of  him  —  a  thing  which  he  dared  not 
refuse.  Yet  he  knew  very  well  what  he  could  not  explain 
to  them  —  that  the  whole  success  of  his  life  depended  so 
absolutely  upon  his  remaining  free  from  any  suspicion  of 
wrong-doing,  that  he  had  received  his  summons  with  some- 
thing like  dismay,  and  proceeded  to  obey  it  with  unaccus- 
tomed reluctance. 

He  drove  to  Cirey's  Cafe  in  Regent  Street,  where  he 
dismissed  the  driver  of  his  hansom  and  strolled  in  with 
the  air  of  an  habitue.  He  selected  a  corner  table,  ordered 
some  refreshment,  and  asked  for  a  box  of  dominoes.     The 


THE  DEMAND   OF  THE   DOUBLE-FOUR      127 

place  was  fairly  well  filled,  A  few  women  were  sitting 
about;  a  sprinkling  of  Frenchmen  were  taking  their 
apperetif;  here  and  there  a  man  of  affairs,  on  his  way 
from  the  city,  had  called  in  for  a  glass  of  vermouth.  Peter 
Ruff  looked  them  over,  recognizing  the  type  —  recogniz- 
ing, even,  some  of  their  faces.  Apparently,  the  person 
whom  he  was  to  meet  had  not  yet  arrived. 

He  lit  a  cigarette  and  smoked  slowly.  Presently  the 
door  opened  and  a  woman  entered  in  a  long  fur  coat,  a 
large  hat,  and  a  thick  veil.  She  raised  it  to  glance  around, 
disclosing  the  unnaturally  pale  face  and  dark,  swollen  eyes 
of  a  certain  type  of  Frenchwoman.  She  seemed  to  notice 
no  one  in  particular.  Her  eyes  traveled  over  Peter  Ruff 
without  any  sign  of  interest.  Nevertheless,  she  took  a  seat 
somewhere  near  his  and  ordered  some  vermouth  from  the 
waiter,  whom  she  addressed  by  name.  When  she  had  been 
served  and  the  waiter  had  departed,  she  looked  curiously  at 
the  dominoes  which  stood  before  her  neighbor. 

"  Monsieur  plays  dominoes,  perhaps  ?  "  she  remarked, 
taking  one  of  them  into  her  fingers  and  examining  it.  "  A 
very  interesting  game !  " 

Peter  Ruff  showed  her  a  domino  which  he  had  been 
covering  with  his  hand  —  it  was  a  double  four.  She 
nodded,  and  moved  from  her  seat  to  one  immediately  next 
him. 

"  I  had  not  imagined,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  that  it  was  a 
lady  whom  I  was  to  meet." 

"Monsieur  is  not  disappointed,  I  trust?"  she  said, 
smiling.  "  If  I  talk  banalities,  Monsieur  must  pardon  it. 
Both  the  waiters  here  are  spies,  and  there  are  always  people 
who  watch.     Monsieur  is  ready  to  do  us  a  service.''  " 

"  To  the  limits  of  my  ability,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 
"  Madame  will  remember  that  we  are  not  in  Paris ;  that 
our  police  system,  if  not  so  wonderful  as  yours,  is  still  a 


128     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

closer  and  a  more  present  thing.  They  have  not  the  brains 
at  Scotland  Yard,  but  they  are  persistent  —  hard  to 
escape." 

"  Do  I  not  know  it.^*  "  the  woman  said.  "  It  is  through 
them  that  we  send  for  you.    One  of  us  is  in  danger." 

"  Do  I  know  him?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  It  is  doubtful,"  she  answered.  "  Monsieur's  stay  in 
Paris  was  so  brief.  If  Monsieur  will  recognize  his  name  — 
it  is  Jean  Lemaitre  himself." 

Peter  Ruff  started  slightly. 

"  I  thought,"  he  said,  with  some  hesitation,  "  that 
Lemaitre  did  not  visit  this  country." 

"  He  came  well  disguised,"  the  woman  answered.  "  It 
was  thought  to  be  safe.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  foolish 
thing.  They  have  tracked  him  down  from  hotel  to  apart- 
ments, till  he  lives  now  in  the  back  room  of  a  wretched  little 
cafe  in  Soho.  Even  from  there  we  cannot  get  him  away^  — 
the  whole  district  is  watched  by  spies.     We  need  help." 

"  For  a  genius  like  Lemaitre,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  thought- 
fully, "  to  have  even  thought  of  Soho,  was  foolish.  He 
should  have  gone  to  Hampstead  or  Balham.  It  is  easy  to 
fool  our  police  if  you  know  how.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
hang  on  to  the  scent  like  leeches  when  once  they  are  on  the 
trail.  How  many  warrants  are  there  out  against  Jean  in 
this  country.''  " 

"  Better  not  ask  that,"  the  woman  said,  grimly.  "  You 
remember  the  raid  on  a  private  house  in  the  Holloway 
Road,  two  years  ago,  when  two  policemen  were  shot  and  a 
spy  was  stabbed  ?     Jean  was  in  that  —  it  is  sufficient !  " 

"  Are  any  plans  made  at  all.''  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  But  naturally,"  the  woman  answered.  "  There  is  a 
motor  car,  even  now,  of  sixty-horse-power,  stands  ready  at 
a  garage  in  Putney.  If  Jean  can  once  reach  it,  he  can 
reach  the  coast.      At   a   certain   spot  near   Southampton 


THE  DEMAND  OF  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR   129 

there  is  a  small  steamer  waiting.  After  that,  everything 
is  easy." 

"  My  task,  then,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  thoughtfully,  "  is  to 
take  Jean  Lemaitre  from  this  cafe  in  Soho,  as  far  as 
Putney,  and  get  him  a  fair  start  ?  " 

"It  is  enough,"  she  answered.  "There  is  a  cordon  of 
spies  around  the  district.  Every  day  they  seem  to  close  in 
upon  us.  They  search  the  houses,  one  by  one.  Only  last 
night,  the  Hotel  de  Netherlands  —  a  miserable  little  place 
on  the  other  side  of  the  street  —  was  suddenly  surrounded 
by  policemen  and  every  room  ransacked.  It  may  be  our 
turn  to-night." 

"  In  one  hour's  time,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  glancing  at  his 
watch,  "  I  shall  present  myself  as  a  doctor  at  the  cafe.  Tell 
me  the  address.  Tell  me  what  to  say  which  will  insure  my 
admission  to  Jean  Lemaitre !  " 

"  The  cafe,"  she  answered,  "  is  called  the  Hotel  de 
Flandres.  You  enter  the  restaurant  and  you  walk  to  the 
desk.  There  you  find  always  INIonsieur  Antoine.  You  say 
to  him  simply  —  '  The  Double-Four !  '  He  will  answer  that 
he  understands,  and  he  will  conduct  you  at  once  to 
Lemaitre." 

Ruff  nodded. 

"  In  the  meantime,"  he  said,  "let  it  be  understood  in  the 
cafe  —  if  there  is  any  one  who  is  not  in  the  seci*et  —  that 
one  of  the  waiters  is  sick.    I  shall  come  to  attend  him." 

She  nodded  thoughtfully. 

"  As  well  that  way  as  any  other,"  she  answered.  "  Mon- 
sieur is  very  kind.    A  hientot!  " 

She  shook  hands  and  they  parted.  Peter  Ruff  drove 
back  to  his  rooms,  rang  up  an  adjoining  garage  for  a  small 
covered  car  such  as  are  usually  let  out  to  medical  men,  and 
commenced  to  pack  a  small  black  bag  with  the  outfit  neces- 
sary for  his  purpose.     Now  that  he  was  actually  immersed 


130    PETER   RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

in  his  work,  the  sense  of  depression  had  passed  away.  The 
keen  stimulus  of  danger  had  quickened  his  blood.  He  knew 
very  well  that  the  woman  had  not  exaggerated.  There  was 
no  man  more  wanted  by  the  French  or  the  English  police 
than  the  man  who  had  sought  his  aid,  and  the  district  in 
which  he  had  taken  shelter  was,  in  some  respects,  the  very 
worst  for  his  purpose.  Nevertheless,  Peter  Ruff,  who  be- 
lieved, at  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  in  his  star,  went  on  with 
his  preparations  feeling  morally  certain  that  Jean  Lemaitre 
would  sleep  on  the  following  night  in  his  native  land. 

At  precisely  the  hour  agreed  upon,  a  small  motor 
brougham  pulled  up  outside  the  door  of  the  Hotel  de 
Flandres,  and  its  occupant  —  whom  ninety-nine  men  out  of 
a  hundred  would  at  once,  unhesitatingly,  have  declared  to 
be  a  doctor  in  moderate  practice  —  pushed  open  the  swing 
doors  of  the  restaurant  and  made  his  way  to  the  desk.  He 
was  of  medium  height;  he  wore  a  frock-coat — a  little 
frayed ;  gray  trousers  which  had  not  been  recently  pressed ; 
and  thick  boots. 

"  I  understand  that  one  of  your  waiters  requires  my 
attendance,"  he  said,  in  a  tone  not  unduly  raised  but  still 
fairly  audible.     "  I  am  Dr.  Gilette." 

"  Dr.  Gilette,"  Antoine  repeated,  slowly. 

"  And  number  Double-Four,"  the  doctor  murmured. 

Antoine  descended  from  his  desk. 

"  But  certainly,  Monsieur !  "  he  said.  "  The  poor  fellow 
declares  that  he  suffers.  If  he  is  really  ill,  he  must  go.  It 
sounds  brutal,  but  what  can  one  do.f^  We  have  so  few  rooms 
here,  and  so  much  business.  Monsieur  will  come  this 
way.''  " 

Antoine  led  the  way  from  the  cafe  into  a  very  smelly 
region  of  narrow  passages  and  steep  stairs. 

"  It  is  to  be  arranged.''  "  Antoine  whispered,  as  they 
ascended. 


THE  DEMAND   OF  THE   DOUBLE-FOUR     131 

"  Without  a  doubt,"  the  doctor  answered.  "  Were  there 
spies  in  the  cafe?  " 

"  Two,"  Antoine  answered. 

The  doctor  nodded,  and  said  no  more.  He  mounted  to 
the  third  story.  Antoine  led  him  through  a  small  sitting- 
room  and  knocked  four  times  upon  the  door  of  an  inner 
room.  It  suddenly  was  opened.  A  man  —  unshaven,  ter- 
rified, with  that  nameless  fear  in  his  face  which  one  sees 
reflected  in  the  expression  of  some  trapped  animal  —  stood 
there  looking  out  at  them. 

"  '  Double-Four  ' !  "  the  doctor  said,  softly.  "  Go  back 
into  the  room,  please.     Antoine  will  kindly  leave  us." 

"  Who  are  you  ?  "  the  man  gasped. 

"  '  Double-Four  ' !  "  the  doctor  answered.  "  Obey  me, 
and  be  quick  for  your  life !    Strip !  " 

The  man  obeyed. 

Barely  twenty  minutes  later,  the  doctor  —  still  carrying 
his  bag  —  descended  the  stairs.  He  entered  the  cafe  from 
a  somewhat  remote  door.  Antoine  hurried  to  meet  him,  and 
walked  bj  his  side  through  the  place.  He  asked  many 
questions,  but  the  doctor  contented  himself  with  shaking  his 
head.  Almost  in  silence  he  left  Antoine,  who  conducted 
him  even  to  the  door  of  his  motor.  The  proprietor  of  the 
cafe  watched  the  brougham  disappear,  and  then  returned 
to  his  desk,  sighing  heavily. 

A  man  who  had  been  sipping  a  liqueur  close  at  hand, 
laid  down  his  paper. 

"  One  of  your  waiters  ill,  did  I  understand.''  "  he  asked. 

Monsieur  Antoine  was  at  once  eloquent.  It  was  the 
ill-fortune  which  had  dogged  him  for  the  last  four  months ! 
The  man  had  been  taken  ill  there  in  the  restaurant.  He 
was  a  Gascon  —  spoke  no  English  —  and  had  just  arrived. 
It  was  not  possible  for  him  to  be  removed  at  the  moment, 
so  he  had  been  carried  to  an  empty  bedroom.     Then  had 


132    PETER    RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

come  the  doctor  and  forbidden  his  removal.  Now  for  a 
week  he  had  lain  there  and  several  of  his  other  voyageurs 
had  departed.  One  did  not  know  how  these  things  got 
about,  but  they  spoke  of  infection.  The  doctor,  who  had 
just  left  —  Dr.  Gilette  of  Russell  Square,  a  most  famous 
physician  —  had  assured  him  that  there  was  no  infec- 
tion—  no  fear  of  any.  But  what  did  it  matter  —  that.'' 
People  were  so  hard  to  convince.  Monsieur  would  like  a 
cigar  .P    But  certainly !    There  were  here  some  of  the  best. 

Antoine  undid  the  cabinet  and  opened  a  box  of  Havanas. 
John  Dory  selected  one  and  called  for  another  liqueur. 

"  You  have  trouble  often  with  your  waiters,  I  dare  say," 
he  remarked.  "  They  tell  me  that  all  Frenchmen  who 
break  the  law  in  their  own  country,  find  their  way,  sooner 
or  later,  to  these  parts.  You  have  to  take  them  without 
characters,  I  suppose?  " 

Antoine  lifted  his  shoulders. 

"  But  what  could  one  do.^*  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Characters, 
they  were  easy  enough  to  write  —  but  were  they  worth  the 
paper  they  were  written  on  ?     Indeed  no !  " 

"  Not  only  your  waiters,"  Dory  continued,  "  but 
those  who  stay  in  the  hotels  round  here  have  sometimes  an 
evil  name." 

Antoine  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  For  myself,"  he  said,  "  I  am  particular.  We  have  but 
a  few  rooms,  but  we  are  careful  to  whom  we  let  them." 

"  Do  you  keep  a  visitors'  book?  " 

"  But  no.  Monsieur !  "  Antoine  protested.  "  For  why 
the  necessity?  There  are  so  few  who  come  to  stay  for 
more  than  the  night  —  just  now  scarcely  any  one  at  all." 

There  entered,  at  that  moment,  a  tall,  thin  man  dressed 
in  dark  clothes,  who  walked  with  his  hands  in  his  overcoat 
pockets,  as  though  it  were  a  habit.  He  came  straight  to 
Dory  and  handed  him  a  piece  of  paper. 


THE  DEMAND  OF  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR   133 

John  Dory  glanced  it  through  and  rose  to  his  feet.  A 
gleam  of  satisfaction  lit  his  eyes. 

"  Monsieur  Antoine,"  he  said,  "  I  am  sorry  to  cause  you 
any  inconvenience,  but  here  is  my  card.  I  am  a  detective 
officer  from  Scotland  Yard,  and  I  have  received  information 
which  compels  me,  with  your  permission,  to  examine  at  once 
the  sleeping  apartments  in  your  hotel." 

Antoine  was  fiercely  indignant. 

"  But,  Monsieur !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  I  do  not  understand ! 
Examine  my  rooms?  But  it  is  impossible!  Who  dares  to 
say  that  I  harbor  criminals  ?  " 

"  I  have  information  upon  which  I  can  rely,"  John  Dory 
answered,  firmly.  "  This  comes  from  a  man  who  is  no 
friend  of  mine,  but  he  is  well-known.  You  can  read  for 
yourself  what  he  says." 

Monsieur  Antoine,  with  trembling  fingers,  took  the  piece 
of  paper  from  John  Dory's  hands.     It  was  addressed  to  — 

Mr.  John  Dory,  Detective: 

If  you  wish  to  find  Jean  Lemaitre,  search  in  the  upper  rooms  of 
the  Hotel  de  Flandres.  I  have  certain  information  that  he  is  to  be 
found  there. 

Peter  Ruff. 

"  Never,"  Antoine  declared,  "  will  I  suffer  such  an 
indignity !  " 

Dory  raised  a  police  whistle  to  his  lips. 

"  You  are  foolish,"  he  said.  "  Already  there  is  a  cordon 
of  men  about  the  place.  If  you  refuse  to  conduct  me  up- 
stairs I  shall  at  once  place  you  under  arrest." 

Antoine,  white  with  fear,  poured  himself  out  a  liqueur 
of  brandy. 

"  Well,  well,"  he  said,  "  what  must  be  done,  then ! 
Come ! " 

He  led  the  way  out  into  that  smelly  network  of  pas- 
sages, up  the  stairs  to  the  first  floor.     Room  after  room  he 


134    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

threw  open  and  begged  Dory  to  examine.  Some  of  them 
were  garishly  furnished  with  gilt  mirrors,  cheap  lace  cur- 
tains tied  back  with  blue  ribbons.  Others  were  dark, 
miserable  holes,  into  which  the  fresh  air  seemed  never  to 
have  penetrated.  On  the  third  floor  they  reached  the  little 
sitting-room,  which  bore  more  traces  of  occupation  than 
some  of  the  rooms  below.  Antoine  would  have  passed  on, 
but  Dory  stopped  him. 

"  There  is  a  door  there,"  he  said.     "  We  will  try  that." 

"  It  is  the  sick  waiter  who  lies  within,"  Antoine  protested. 
"  Monsieur  can  hear  him  groan." 

There  was,  indeed,  something  which  sounded  like  a  groan 
to  be  heard,  but  Dory  was  obstinate. 

"  If  he  is  so  ill,"  he  demanded,  "  how  is  he  able  to  lock 
the  door  on  the  inside  .f^  Monsieur  Antoine,  that  door  must 
be  opened." 

Antoine  knocked  at  it  softly. 

"  rran9ois,"  he  said,  "  there  is  another  doctor  here  who 
would  see  you.     Let  us  in." 

There  was  no  answer.  Antoine  turned  to  his  companion 
with  a  little  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  as  one  who  would  say  — 
"  I  have  done  my  best.    What  would  you  have.^  " 

Dory  put  his  shoulder  to  the  door. 

"  Listen,"  he  shouted  through  the  keyhole,  "  Mr.  Sick 
Waiter,  or  whoever  you  are,  if  you  do  not  unlock  this  door, 
I  am  coming  in  !  " 

"  I  have  no  key,"  said  a  faint  voice.  "  I  am  locked  in. 
Please  break  open  the  door." 

"  But  that  is  not  the  voice  of  Fran9ois !  "  Antoine  ex- 
claimed, in  amazement. 

*'  We  '11  soon  see  who  it  is,"  Dory  answered. 

He  charged  at  the  door  fiercely.  At  the  third  assault 
it  gave  way.  They  found  themselves  in  a  small  back  bed- 
room, and  stretched  on  the  floor,  very  pale,  and  apparently 


THE  DEMAND   OF  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR       135 

only  half-conscious,  lay  Peter  Ruff.  There  was  a  strong 
smell  of  chloroform  about.  John  Dory  threw  open  the 
window.  His  fingers  trembled  a  little.  It  was  like  Fate  — 
this !  At  the  end  of  every  unsuccessful  effort  there  was 
this  man  —  Peter  Ruff ! 

"  What  the  devil  are  you  doing  here  "^  "  he  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  groaned. 

"  Help  me  up,"  he  begged,  "  and  give  me  a  little  brandy." 

Antoine  set  him  in  an  easy-chair  and  rang  the  bell 
furiously. 

"  It  will  come  directly !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  But  who  are 
you.^*  " 

Peter  Ruff  waited  for  the  brandy.  When  he  had  sipped 
it,  he  drew  a  little  breath  as  though  of  relief. 

"  I  heard,"  he  said,  speaking  still  with  an  evident  effort, 
"  that  Lemaitre  was  here.  I  had  secret  information.  I 
thought  at  first  that  I  would  let  you  know  —  I  sent  you  a 
note  early  this  morning.  Afterwards,  I  discovered  that 
there  was  a  reward,  and  I  determined  to  track  him  down 
myself.  He  was  in  here  hiding  as  a  sick  waiter.  I  do  not 
think,"  Peter  Ruff  added,  "  that  Monsieur  Antoine  had 
any  idea.  I  presented  myself  as  representing  a  chari- 
table society,  and  I  was  shown  here  to  visit  him.  He  was 
too  clever,  though,  was  Jean  Lemaitre  —  too  quick  for 
me." 

"  You  were  a  fool  to  come  alone !  "  John  Dory  said. 
"Don't  you  know  the  man's  record?  How  long  ago  did 
he  leave?  " 

"  About  ten  minutes,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  You 
must  have  missed  him  somewhere  as  you  came  up.  I 
crawled  to  the  window  and  I  watched  him  go.  He  left  the 
restaurant  by  the  side  entrance,  and  took  a  taxicab  at 
the  corner  there.  It  went  northward  toward  New  Oxford 
Street." 


136     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Dory  turned  on  his  heel  —  they  heard  him  descending 
the  stairs.    Peter  Ruff  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  said,  as  he  plunged  his  head  into  a 
basin  of  water,  and  came  into  the  middle  of  the  room 
rubbing  it  vigorously  with  a  small  towel,  "  I  am  afraid  that 
our  friend  John  Dory  will  get  to  dislike  me  soon !  He 
passed  out  unnoticed,  eh,  Antoine?  " 

Antoine's  face  wore  a  look  of  great  relief. 

"  There  was  not  a  soul  who  looked,"  he  said.  "  We 
passed  under  the  nose  of  the  gentleman  from  Scotland 
Yard.  He  sat  there  reading  his  paper;  and  he  had  no 
idea.  I  watched  Jean  step  into  the  motor.  Even  by  now 
he  is  well  on  his  way  southwards.  Twice  he  changes  from 
motor  to  train,  and  back.     They  will  never  trace  him." 

Peter  Ruff,  who  was  looking  amazingly  better,  sipped 
a  further  glass  of  liqueur.  Together  he  and  Antoine  de- 
scended to  the  street. 

"  Mind,"  Peter  Ruff  whispered,  "  I  consider  that  ac- 
counts are  squared  between  me  and  '  Double-Four  '  now. 
Let  them  know  that.     This  sort  of  thing  is  n't  in  my  line." 

"  For  an  amateur,"  Antoine  said,  bowing  low,  "  Mon- 
sieur commands  my  heartfelt  congratulations  !  " 


CHAPTER    VIII 

MRS.    BOGNOr's    star    BOARDER 

In  these  days,  the  duties  of  Miss  Brown  as  Peter  Ruff's 
secretary  had  become  multifarious.  Together  with  the 
transcribing  of  a  vast  number  of  notes  concerning  cases, 
some  of  which  he  undertook  and  some  of  which  he  refused, 
she  had  also  to  keep  his  cash  book,  a  note  of  his  investments 
and  a  record  of  his  social  engagements.  Notwithstanding 
all  these  demands  upon  her  time,  however,  there  were  occa- 
sions when  she  found  herself,  of  necessity,  idle.  In  one  of 
these  she  broached  the  subject  which  had  often  been  in  her 
mind.  They  were  alone,  and  not  expecting  callers.  Conse- 
quently, she  sat  upon  the  hearthrug  and  addressed  her 
employer  by  his  Christian  name. 

"  Peter,  she  said  softly,  "  do  you  remember  the  night  when 
you  came  through  the  fog  and  burst  into  my  little  flat?  " 

"  Quite  well,"  he  answered,  "  but  it  is  a  subject  to  which 
I  prefer  that  you  do  not  allude." 

"  I  will  be  careful,"  she  answered.  "  I  only  spoke  of  it 
for  this  reason.  Before  you  left,  when  we  were  sitting 
together,  you  sketched  out  the  career  which  you  proposed 
for  yourself.  In  many  respects,  I  suppose,  you  have  been 
highly  successful,  but  I  wonder  if  it  has  ever  occurred  to 
you  that  your  work  has  not  proceeded  upon  the  lines  which 
you  first  indicated.''  " 

He  nodded. 


138    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  think  I  know  what  you  mean,"  he  said.     "  Go  on." 

"  That  night,"  she  murmured  softly,  "  you  spoke  as  a 
hunted  man;  you  spoke  as  one  at  war  with  Society;  you 
spoke  as  one  who  proposes  almost  a  campaign  against  it. 
When  3^uu  took  your  rooms  here  and  called  yourself  Peter 
Ruff,  it  was  rather  in  your*  mind  to  aid  the  criminal  than 
to  detect  the  crime.  Fate  seems  to  have  decreed  otherwise. 
IWhy,  I  wonder?  " 

*'  Things  have  gone  that  way,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked. 

"*'  I  will  tell  you  why,"  she  continued.  "  It  is  because,  at 
the  bottom  of  your  heart,  there  lurks  a  strong  and  uncon- 
querable desire  for  respectability.  In  your  heart  you  are 
on  the  side  of  the  law  and  established  things.  You  do  not 
like  crime ;  you  do  not  like  criminals.  You  do  not  like  the 
idea  of  associating  with  them.  You  prefer  the  company  of 
law-abiding  people,  even  though  their  ways  be  narrow.  It 
was  part  of  that  sentiment,  Peter,  which  led  you  to  fall  in 
love  with  a  coal-merchant's  daughter.  I  can  see  that  you 
will  end  your  days  in  the  halo  of  respectability." 

Peter  Ruff  was  a  little  thoughtful.  He  scratched  his 
chin  and  contemplated  the  tip  of  his  faultless  patent  boot. 
Self-analysis  interested  him,  and  he  recognized  the  truth 
of  the  girl's  words. 

*'  You  know,  I  am  rather  like  that,"  he  admitted. 
"  When  I  see  a  family  party,  I  envy  them.  When  I  hear 
of  a  man  who  has  brothers  and  sisters  and  aunts  and 
cousins,  and  gives  family  dinner-parties  to  family  friends, 
I  envy  him.  I  do  not  care  about  the  loose  ends  of  life.  I 
do  not  care  about  restaurant  life,  and  ladies  who  transfer 
their  regards  with  the  same  facility  that  they  change  their 
toilettes.  You  have  very  admirable  powers  of  observation, 
Violet.    You  see  me,  I  believe,  as  I  really  am." 

"  That  being  so,"  she  remarked,  "  what  are  you  going  to 
say  to  Sir  Richard  Dyson?  " 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    139 

Peter  Ruff  was  frank. 

"  Upon  my  soul,"  he  answered,  "  I  don't  know !  " 

"  You  '11  have  to  make  up  your  mind  very  soon,"  she 
reminded  him.    "  He  is  coming  here  at  twelve  o'clock." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  I  shall  wait  until  I  hear  what  he  has  to  say,"  he 
remarked. 

"  His  letter  gave  you  a  pretty  clear  hint,"  Violet  said, 
"  that  it  was  something  outside  the  law." 

"  The  law  has  many  outposts,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  One 
can  thread  one's  way  in  and  out,  if  one  knows  the  ropes. 
I  don't  like  the  man,  but  he  introduced  me  to  his  tailor.  I 
have  never  had  any  clothes  like  those  he  has  made  me." 

She  sighed. 

"  You  are  a  vain  little  person,"  she  said. 

"  You  are  an  impertinent  young  woman !  "  he  answered. 
"  Get  back  to  your  work.     Don't  you  hear  the  lift  stop.''  " 

She  rose  reluctantly,  and  resumed  her  place  in  front  of 
her  desk. 

"  If  it 's  risky,"  she  whispered,  leaning  round  towards 
him,  "  don't  you  take  it  on.  I  've  heard  one  or  two  things 
about  Sir  Richard  lately." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded.  He,  too,  quitted  his  easy-chair,  and 
took  up  a  bundle  of  papers  which  lay  upon  his  desk.  There 
was  a  sharp  tap  at  the  door. 

"  Come  in !  "  he  said. 

Sir  Richard  Dyson  entered.  He  was  dressed  quietly,  but 
with  the  perfect  taste  which  was  obviously  an  instinct  with 
him,  and  he  wore  a  big  bunch  of  violets  in  his  buttonhole. 
Nevertheless,  the  spring  sunshine  seemed  to  find  out  the 
lines  in  his  face.  His  eyes  were  baggy  —  he  had  aged  even 
within  the  last  few  months. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Ruff,"  he  said,  shaking  hands,  "  how 
goes  it.''  " 


I40     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  am  very  well,  Sir  Richard,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 
"  Please  take  a  chair." 

Sir  Richard  took  the  easy-chair,  and  discovering  a  box 
of  cigarettes  upon  the  table,  helped  himself.  Then  his  eyes 
fell  upon  Miss  Brown. 

"  Can't  do  without  your  secretary  ?  "  he  remarked. 

"  Impossible !  "  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  As  I  told  you 
before,  I  am  her  guarantee  that  what  you  say  to  me,  or 
before  her,  is  spoken  as  though  to  the  dead." 

Sir  Richard  nodded. 

"  Just  as  well,"  he  remarked,  "  for  I  am  going  to  talk 
about  a  man  who  I  wish  were  dead !  " 

"  There  are  few  of  us,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  who  have  not 
our  enemies." 

"Have  you  any  experience  of  blackmailers.''"  Sir 
Richard  asked. 

"  In  my  profession,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  "  I  have 
come  across  such  persons." 

"  I  have  come  to  see  you  about  one,"  Sir  Richard  pro- 
ceeded. "  Many  years  ago,  there  was  a  fellow  in  my  regi- 
ment who  went  to  the  bad  —  never  mind  his  name.  He 
passes  to-day  as  Ted  Jones  —  that  name  will  do  as  well  as 
another.  I  am  not,"  Sir  Richard  continued,  "a  good- 
natured  man,  but  some  devilish  impulse  prompted  me  to 
help  that  fellow.  I  gave  him  money  three  or  four  times. 
Somehow,  I  don't  think  it 's  a  very  good  thing  to  give  a 
man  money.  He  does  n't  value  it  —  it  comes  too  easily. 
He  spends  it  and  wants  more." 

"  There  's  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  what  you  say,  Sir 
Richard,"  Peter  Ruff  admitted. 

*'  Our  friend,  for  instance,  wanted  more,"  Sir  Richard 
continued.  "  He  came  to  me  for  it  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course.  I  refused.  He  came  again ;  I  lost  my  temper 
and  punched  his  head.     Then  his  little  game  began." 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    141 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  He  had  something  to  work  upon,  I  suppose? "  he 
remarked. 

"  Most  certainly  he  had,"  Sir  Richard  admitted.  "  If 
ever  I  achieved  sufficient  distinction  in  any  branch  of  life 
to  make  it  necessary  that  my  biography  should  be  written, 
I  promise  you  that  you  would  find  it  in  many  places  a  little 
highly  colored.  In  other  words,  Mr.  Ruff,  I  have  not 
always  adhered  to  the  paths  of  righteousness." 

A  faint  smile  flickered  across  Peter  Ruff's  face. 

"  Sir  Richard,"  he  said,  "  your  candor  is  admirable." 

"  There  was  one  time,"  Sir  Richard  continued,  "  when 
I  was  really  on  my  last  legs.  It  was  just  before  I  came 
into  the  baronetcy.  I  had  borrowed  every  penny  I  could 
borrow.  I  was  even  hard  put  to  it  for  a  meal.  I  went 
to  Paris,  and  I  called  myself  by  another  man's  name.  I 
got  introduced  to  a  somewhat  exclusive  club  there.  My 
assumed  name  was  a  good  one  —  it  was  the  name,  in  fact, 
of  a  relative  whom  I  somewhat  resembled.  I  was  accepted 
without  question.  I  played  cards,  and  I  lost  somewhere 
about  eighteen  thousand  francs." 

"  A  sum,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked,  "  which  you  probably 
found  it  inconvenient  to  pay." 

"  There  was  only  one  course,"  Sir  Richard  continued, 
"  and  I  took  it.  I  went  back  the  next  night  and  gave 
checks  for  the  amount  of  my  indebtedness  —  checks  which 
had  no  more  chance  of  being  met  than  if  I  were  to  draw 
to-night  upon  the  Bank  of  England  for  a  million  pounds. 
I  went  back,  however,  with  another  resolve.  I  was  con- 
sidered to  have  discharged  my  liabilities,  and  we  played 
again.  I  rose  a  winner  of  something  like  sixty  thousand 
francs.  But  I  played  to  win,  Mr.  Ruff!  Do  you  know 
what  that  means  ?  " 

"  You  cheated !  "  Peter  Ruff  said,  in  an  undertone. 


142     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

*'  Quite  true,"  Sir  Richard  admitted.  "  I  cheated ! 
There  was  a  scandal,  and  I  disappeared.  I  had  the  money, 
and  though  my  checks  for  the  eighteen  thousand  francs 
were  met,  there  was  a  considerable  balance  in  my  pocket 
when  I  escaped  out  of  France.  There  was  enough  to  take 
me  out  to  America  —  big  game  shooting  in  the  far  West. 
No  one  ever  associated  me  with  the  impostor  who  had  robbed 
these  young  French  noblemen  —  no  one,  that  is  to  say,  ex- 
cept the  person  who  passes  by  the  name  of  Teddy  Jones." 

"  How  did  he  get  to  know  ?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  The  story  would  n't  interest  you,"  Sir  Richard  an- 
swered. "  He  was  in  Paris  at  the  time  —  we  came  across 
one  another  twice.  He  heard  the  scandal,  and  put  two  and 
two  together.  I  shipped  him  off  to  Australia  when  I  came 
into  the  title.  He  has  come  back.  Lately,  I  can  tell  you, 
he  has  pretty  well  drained  me  dry.  He  has  become  a 
regular  parasite  —  a  cold-blooded  leech.  He  does  n't  get 
drunk  now.  He  looks  after  his  health.  I  believe  he  even 
saves  his  money.  There  's  scarcely  a  week  I  don't  hear 
from  him.  He  keeps  me  a  pauper.  He  has  brought  me 
at  last  to  that  state  when  I  feel  that  there  must  be  an 
ending !  " 

"  You  have  come  to  seek  my  help,"  Peter  Ruff  said, 
slowly.  "  From  what  you  say  about  this  man,  I  presume 
that  he  is  not  to  be  frightened.''  " 

"  Not  for  a  single  moment,"  Sir  Richard  answered. 
*'  The  law  has  no  terrors  for  him.  He  is  as  slippery  as  an 
eel.  He  has  his  story  pat.  He  even  has  his  witnesses 
ready.  I  can  assure  you  that  Mr.  Teddy  Jones  is  n't  by 
any  means  an  ordinary  sort  of  person." 

"  He  is  not  to  be  bluffed,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  slowly ;  "  he 
is  not  to  be  bribed.     What  remains.''  " 

"  I  have  come  here,"  Sir  Richard  said,  "  for  your  advice, 
Mr.   Ruff." 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    143 

"  The  blackmailer,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  is  a  criminal." 

"  He  is  a  scoundrel !  "  Sir  Richard  assented. 

"  He  is  not  fit  to  live,"  Peter  Ruff  repeated. 

"  He  contaminates  the  world  with  every  breath  he 
draws !  "  Sir  Richard  assented. 

"  Perhaps,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  you  had  better  give  me 
his  address,  and  the  name  he  goes  under." 

"  He  lives  at  a  boarding-house  in  Russell  Street,  Blooms- 
bury,"  Sir  Richard  said.  "  It  is  Mrs.  Bognor's  boarding- 
house.  She  calls  it,  I  believe,  the  '  American  Home  from 
Home.'    The  number  is  17." 

*'  A  boarding-house,"  Peter  Ruff  repeated,  thoughtfully. 
"  Makes  it  a  little  hard  to  get  at  him  privately,  does  n't 
it.?" 

"  Fling  him  a  bait  and  he  will  come  to  you,"  Sir  Richard 
answered.  "  He  is  an  adventurer  pure  and  simple,  though 
perhaps  you  would  n't  believe  it  to  look  at  him  now.  He 
has  grown  fat  on  the  money  he  has  wrung  from  me." 

"  You  had  better  leave  the  matter  in  my  hands  for  a  few 
days,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  I  will  have  a  talk  with  this 
gentleman  and  see  whether  he  is  really  so  unmanageable. 
If  he  is,  there  is,  of  course,  only  one  way,  and  for  that  way, 
Sir  Richard,  you  would  have  to  pay  a  little  high." 

"  If  I  were  to  hear  to-morrow,"  Sir  Richard  said  quietly, 
"  that  Teddy  Jones  was  dead,  I  would  give  five  thousand 
pounds  to  the  man  who  brought  me  the  information !  " 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  It  would  be  worth  that,"  he  said  —  "  quite !  I  will 
drop  you  a  line  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  days." 

Sir  Richard  took  up  his  hat,  lit  another  of  Peter  Ruff's 
cigarettes,  and  departed.  They  heard  the  rattle  of  the 
lift  as  it  descended.  Then  Miss  Brown  turned  round  in 
her  chair. 

"  Don't  you  do  it,  Peter !  "  she  said  solemnly.     "  The 


144    PETER    RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

time  has  gone  by  for  that  sort  of  thing.  The  man  may  be 
unfit  to  live,  but  you  don't  need  to  risk  as  much  as  that  for 
a  matter  of  five  thousand  pounds." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  Quite  right,"  he  said ;  "  quite  right,  Violet.  At  the 
same  time,  five  thousand  pounds  is  an  excellent  sum.  We 
must  see  what  can  be  done." 

Peter  Ruff's  method  of  seeing  what  could  be  done  was  at 
first  the  very  obvious  one  of  seeking  to  discover  any  in- 
cidents in  the  past  of  the  person  known  as  Teddy  Jones 
likely  to  reflect  present  discredit  upon  him  if  brought  to 
light.  From  the  first,  it  was  quite  clear  that  the  career  of 
this  gentleman  had  been  far  from  immaculate.  His  re- 
searches proved,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the  gentleman  in 
question  had  resorted,  during  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
to  many  and  very  questionable  methods  of  obtaining  a  liv- 
ing. At  the  same  time,  there  was  nothing  which  Peter  Ruff 
felt  that  the  man  might  not  brazen  out.  His  present  mode 
of  life  seemed  —  on  the  surface,  at  any  rate  —  to  be  beyond 
reproach.  There  was  only  one  association  which  was  dis- 
tinctly questionable,  and  it  was  in  this  one  direction, 
therefore,  that  Peter  Ruff  concentrated  himself.  The  case, 
for  some  reason,  interested  him  so  much  that  he  took  a 
close  and  personal  interest  in  it,  and  he  was  rewarded  one 
day  by  discovering  this  enemy  of  Sir  Richard's  sitting, 
toward  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  in  a  cafe  in  Regent 
Street,  engrossed  in  conversation  with  a  person  whom 
Peter  Ruff  knew  to  be  a  very  black  sheep  indeed  —  a  man 
who  had  been  tried  for  murder,  and  concerning  whom  there 
were  still  many  unpleasant  rumors.  From  behind  his  pa- 
per in  a  corner  of  the  cafe,  Peter  Ruff  watched  these  two 
men.  Teddy  Jones  —  or  Major  Edward  Jones,  as  it 
seemed  he  was  now  called  —  was  a  person  whose  appear- 
ance no  longer  suggested  the  poverty  against  which  he  had 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    145 

been  struggling  most  of  his  life.  He  was  well  dressed  and 
tolerably  well  turned  out.  His  face  was  a  little  puffy,  and 
he  had  put  on  flesh  during  these  days  of  his  ease.  His 
eyes,  too,  had  a  somewhat  furtive  expression,  although  his 
general  deportment  was  one  of  braggadocio.  Peter  Ruff, 
quick  always  in  his  likes  or  dislikes,  found  the  man  repulsive 
from  the  start.  He  felt  that  he  would  have  a  genuine 
pleasure,  apart  from  the  matter  of  the  five  thousand 
pounds,  in  accelerating  Major  Jones's  departure  from  a 
world  which  he  certainly  did  not  adorn. 

The  two  men  conducted  their  conversation  in  a  subdued 
tone,  which  made  it  quite  impossible  for  Peter  Ruff,  in  his 
somewhat  distant  corner,  to  overhear  a  single  word  of  it. 
It  was  obvious,  however,  that  they  were  not  on  the  best 
of  terms.  Major  Jones's  companion  was  protesting,  and 
apparently  without  success,  against  some  course  of  action 
or  speech  of  his  companion's.  The  conversation,  on  the 
other  hand,  never  reached  a  quarrel,  and  the  two  men  left 
the  place  together  apparently  on  ordinary  terms  of  friend- 
liness. Peter  Ruff  at  once  quitted  his  seat  and  crossed  the 
room  toward  the  spot  where  they  had  been  sitting.  He 
dived  under  the  table  and  picked  up  a  newspaper  —  it  was 
the  only  clue  left  to  him  as  to  the  nature  of  their  conver- 
sation. More  than  once.  Major  Jones,  who  had,  soon  after 
their  arrival,  sent  a  waiter  for  it,  had  pointed  to  a  certain 
paragraph  as  though  to  give  weight  to  his  statements. 
Peter  Ruff  had  noticed  the  exact  position  of  that  para- 
graph. He  smoothed  out  the  paper  and  found  it  at  once. 
It  was  an  account  of  the  murder  of  a  wealthy  old  woman, 
living  on  the  outskirts  of  a  country  village  not  far  from 
London.  Peter  Ruff's  face  did  not  change  as  he  called  for 
another  vermouth  and  read  the  description  slowly.  Yet 
he  was  aware  that  he  had  possibly  stumbled  across  the  very 
thing  for  which  he  had  searched  so  urgently  !    The  particu- 


146    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

lars  of  the  murder  he  already  knew  well,  as  at  one  time 
he  had  felt  inclined  to  aid  the  police  in  their  so  far  fruitless 
investigations.  He  therefore  skipped  the  description  of 
the  tragedy,  and  devoted  his  attention  to  the  last  para- 
graph, toward  which  he  fancied  that  the  finger  of  Major 
Jones  had  been  chiefly  directed.  It  was  a  list  of  the  stolen 
property,  which  consisted  of  jewelry,  gold  and  notes  to  a 
very  considerable  amount.  With  the  waiter's  permission, 
he  annexed  the  paper,  cut  out  the  list  of  articles  with  a 
sharp  penknife,  and  placed  it  in  his  pocketbook  before  he 
left  the  cafe. 

In  the  course  of  some  of  the  smaller  cases  with  which 
Peter  Ruif  had  been  from  time  to  time  connected,  he  had 
more  than  once  come  into  contact  with  the  authorities  at 
Scotland  Yard,  and  he  had  several  acquaintances  there  — 
not  including  Mr.  John  Dory  —  to  whom,  at  times,  he  had 
given  valuable  information.  For  the  first  time,  he  now 
sought  some  return  for  his  many  courtesies.  He  drove 
straight  from  the  cafe  to  the  office  of  the  Chief  of  the 
Criminal  Investigation  Department.  The  questions  he 
asked  there  were  only  two,  but  they  were  promptly  and 
courteously  answered.  Peter  Ruff  left  the  building  and 
drove  back  to  his  rooms  in  a  somewhat  congratulatory 
frame  of  mind.  After  all,  it  was  chance  which  was  the 
chief  factor  in  the  solution  of  so  many  of  these  cases ! 
Often  he  had  won  less  success  after  months  of  untiring  ef- 
fort than  he  had  gained  during  that  few  minutes  in  the  cafe 
in  Regent  Street. 

Peter  Ruff  became  an  inmate  of  that  very  select 
boarding-house  carried  on  by  Mrs.  Bognor  at  number  17 
Russell  Street,  Bloomsbury.  He  arrived  with  a  steamer 
trunk,  an  elaborate  traveling-bag  and  a  dressing-case; 
took  the  best  vacant  room  in  the  house,  and  dressed  for 


I 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    147 

dinner.  Mrs.  Bognor  looked  upon  him  as  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  her  clientele,  and  introduced  him  freely  to  her  other 
guests.  Among  these  was  Major  Edward  Jones.  Major 
Jones  sat  at  Mrs.  Bognor's  right  hand,  and  was  evidently- 
the  show  guest  of  the  boarding-house.  Peter  Ruff,  without 
the  least  desire  to  attack  his  position,  sat  upon  her  left  and 
monopolized  the  conversation.  On  the  third  night  it 
turned,  by  chance,  upon  precious  stones.  Peter  Ruff  drew 
a  little  chamois  leather  bag  from  his  pocket. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  said,  "  that  my  tastes  are  peculiar.  I 
have  been  in  the  East,  and  I  have  seen  very  many  precious 
stones  in  their  uncut  state.  To  my  mind,  there  is  nothing 
to  be  compared  with  opals.  These  are  a  few  I  brought 
home  from  India.  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  look  at  them, 
Mrs.  Bognor." 

They  were  passed  round,  amidst  a  little  chorus  of 
admiration. 

"  The  large  one  with  the  blue  fire,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked, 
"is,  I  think,  remarkably  beautiful.  I  have  never  seen  a 
stone  quite  like  it." 

"  It  is  wonderful !  "  murmured  the  young  lady  who  was 
sitting  at  Major  Jones's  right  hand.  "What  a  fortunate 
man  you  are,  Mr.  Ruff,  to  have  such  a  collection  of 
treasures !  " 

Peter  Ruff  bowed  across  the  table.  Major  Jones,  who 
was  beginning  to  feel  that  his  position  as  show  guest  was 
in  danger,  thrust  his  hand  into  his  waistcoat  pocket  and 
produced  a  lady's  ring,  in  which  was  set  a  single  opal. 

"  Very  pretty  stones,"  he  remarked  carelessly,  "  but  I 
can't  say  I  am  very  fond  of  them.  Here  's  one  that  be- 
longed to  my  sister,  and  my  grandmother  before  her.  I 
have  it  in  my  pocket  because  I  was  thinking  of  having  the 
stone  reset  and  making  a  present  of  it  to  a  friend  of  mine." 

Peter  Ruff's  popularity  waned  —  he  had  said  nothing 


148     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

about  making  a  present  to  any  one  of  even  the  tnost  in- 
significant of  his  opals!  And  the  one  which  Major  Jones 
now  handed  round  was  certainly  a  magnificent  stone. 
Peter  Ruff  examined  it  with  the  rest,  and  under  the  pre- 
text of  studying  the  setting,  gazed  steadfastly  at  the  inside 
through  his  eyeglass.  Major  Jones,  from  the  other  side 
of  the  table,  frowned,  and  held  out  his  hand  for  the  ring. 

"  A  very  beautiful  stone  indeed !  "  Peter  Ruff  declared, 
passing  it  across  the  tablecloth.  "  Really,  I  do  not  think 
that  there  is  one  in  my  little  collection  to  be  compared  with 
it.     Have  you  many  treasures  like  this.  Major  Jones.''  " 

"  Oh,  a  few!  "  the  Major  answered  carelessly,  "  family 
heirlooms,  most  of  them." 

"  You  will  have  to  give  me  the  ring.  Major  Jones,"  the 
young  lady  on  his  right  remarked  archly.  "  It 's  bad  luck, 
you  know,  to  give  it  to  any  one  who  is  not  born  in  October, 
and  my  birthday  is  on  the  twelfth." 

"  My  dear  Miss  Levey,"  Major  Jones  answered,  whis- 
pering in  her  ear,  "  more  unlikely  things  have  happened 
than  that  I  should  beg  your  acceptance  of  this  little  trifle." 

"  Sooner  or  later,"  Peter  Ruff  said  genially,  "  I  should 
like  to  have  a  little  conversation  with  you.  Major.  I  fancy 
that  we  ought  to  be  able  to  find  plenty  of  subjects  of 
common  interest." 

"  Delighted,  I  'm  sure !  "  the  latter  answered,  utterly 
unsuspicious.  "  Shall  we  go  into  the  smoking-room  now, 
or  would  you  rather  play  a  rubber  first .''  " 

"  If  it  is  all  the  same  to  you,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  I  think 
we  will  have  a  cigar  first.  Thei'e  will  be  plenty  of  time 
for  bridge  afterwards." 

"  May  I  offer  you  a  cigar,  sir.?  "  Major  Jones  inquired, 
passing  across  a  well-filled  case. 

Peter  Ruff  sighed. 

"  I  am  afraid,  Maj  or,"  he  said,  "  that  there  is  scarcely 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    149 

time.  You  see,  I  have  a  warrant  in  my  pocket  for  your 
arrest,  and  I  am  afraid  that  by  the  time  we  got  to  the 
station  —  " 

Major  Jones  leaned  forward  in  his  chair.  He  gripped 
the  sides  tightly  with  both  hands.  His  eyes  seemed  to 
be  protruding  from  his  head. 

"  For  my  what?  "  he  exclaimed,  in  a  tone  of  horror. 

"  For  your  arrest,"  Peter  Ruff  explained  calmly. 
"  Surely  you  must  have  been  expecting  it !  During  all 
these  years  you  must  have  grown  used  to  expecting  it  at 
every  moment !  " 

Major  Jones  collapsed.  He  looked  at  Ruff  as  one  might 
look  at  a  man  who  has  taken  leave  of  his  senses.  Yet 
underneath  it  all  was  the  coward's  fear ! 

"What  are  you  talking  about,  man?"  he  exclaimed. 
*'  What  do  you  mean  ?  Lower  your  voice,  for  heaven's 
sake  !  Consider  my  position  here  !  Some  one  might  over- 
hear !    If  this  is  a  joke,  let  me  tell  you  that  it 's  a  d d 

foolish  one !  " 

Peter  Ruff  raised  his  eyebrows. 

"  I  do  not  wish,"  he  said,  "  to  create  a  disturbance  — 
my  manner  of  coming  here  should  have  assured  you  of  that. 
At  the  same  time,  business  is  business.  I  hold  a  warrant  for 
your  arrest,  and  I  am  forced  to  execute  it." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  are  a  detective,  then?  "  Major 
Jones  demanded. 

He  was  a  big  man,  but  his  voice  seemed  to  have  grown 
very  small  indeed. 

"  Naturally,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  I  should  not 
come  here  without  authority." 

"  What  is  the  charge?  "  the  other  man  faltered. 

"  Blackmail,"  Peter  Ruff  said  slowly.  "  The  informa- 
tion against  you  is  lodged  by  Sir  Richard  Dyson." 

It  seemed  to  Peter  Ruff,  who  was  watching  his  companion 


150     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

closely,  that  a  wave  of  relief  passed  over  the  face  of  the 
man  who  sat  cowering  in  his  chair.  He  certainly  drew 
a  little  gasp  —  stretched  out  his  hands,  as  though  to  thrust 
the  shadow  of  some  fear  from  him.  His  voice,  when  he 
spoke,  was  stronger.  Some  faint  show  of  courage  was 
returning  to  him. 

"  There  is  some  ridiculous  mistake,"  he  declared.  "  Let 
us  talk  this  over  like  sensible  men,  Mr.  Ruff.  If  you  will 
wait  until  I  have  spoken  to  Sir  Richard,  I  can  promise 
you  that  the  warrant  shall  be  withdrawn,  and  that  you 
shall  not  be  the  loser." 

"  I  am  afraid  it  is  too  late  for  anything  of  that 
sort,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  Sir  Richard's  patience  has  been 
completely  exhausted  by  your  repeated  demands." 

"  He  never  told  me  so,"  Major  Jones  whined.  "  I  quite 
thought  that  he  was  always  glad  to  help  an  old  friend. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  had  not  meant  to  ask  him  for  any- 
thing else.  The  last  few  hundreds  I  had  from  him  was 
to  have  closed  the  thing  up.     It  was  the  end." 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  it  was  not  the  end !  It  never  would 
have  been  the  end !  Sir  Richard  sought  my  advice,  and  I 
gave  it  him  without  hesitation.  Sooner  or  later,  I  told 
him,  he  would  have  to  adopt  different  measures.  I  con- 
vinced him.     I  represent  those  measures  !  " 

"  But  the  matter  can  be  arranged,"  Major  Jones  in- 
sisted, with  a  little  shudder,  "  I  am  perfectly  certain  it  can 
be  arranged.  Mr.  Ruff,  you  are  not  an  ordinary  police 
officer  —  I  am  sure  of  that.  Give  me  a  chance  of  having 
an  interview  with  Sir  Richard  before  anything  more  is 
done.  I  will  satisfy  him,  I  promise  you  that.  Why,  if  we 
leave  the  place  together  like  this,  every  one  here  will  get 
to  know  about  it !  " 

*'  Be   reasonable,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.      "  Of  course 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    151 

everyone  will  get  to  know  about  it !  Blackmailing  cases 
always  excite  a  considerable  amount  of  interest.  Your 
photograph  will  probably  be  in  the  Daily  Mirror  to- 
morrow or  the  next  day.  In  the  meantime,  I  must  trouble 
you  to  pay  your  respects  to  Mrs.  Bognor  and  to  come 
with  me." 

"To  Sir  Richard's  house?"  Major  Jones  asked, 
eagerly. 

"  To  the  police-station,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 

Major  Jones  did  not  rise.  He  sat  for  a  few  moments 
with  his  head  buried  in  his  hands. 

"  Mr.  Ruff,"  he  said  hoarsely,  "  listen  to  me.  I  have 
been  fortunate  lately  in  some  investments.  I  am  not  so 
poor  as  I  was.  I  have  my  check-book  in  my  pocket,  and  a 
larger  balance  in  the  bank  now  than  I  have  ever  had  before. 
If  I  write  you  a  check  for,  say,  a  hundred  —  no,  two !  — 
five !  "  he  cried,  desperately,  watching  Peter  Ruff's  un- 
changing face  —  "  five  hundred  pounds,  will  you  come 
round  with  me  to  Sir  Richard's  house  in  a  hansom  at 
once.'*  " 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  Five  thousand  pounds  would  not  buy  your  liberty  from 
me.  Major  Jones,"  he  said. 

The  man  became  abject. 

"  Have  pity,  then,"  he  pleaded.  "  My  health  is  not 
good  —  I  could  n't  stand  imprisonment.  Think  of  what 
it  means  to  a  man  of  my  age  suddenly  to  leave  everything 
worth  having  in  life  just  because  he  may  have  imposed  a 
little  on  the  generosity  of  a  friend !  Think  how  you  would 
feel,  and  be  merciful !  " 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head  slowly.  His  face  was  im- 
movable, but  there  was  a  look  in  his  eyes  from  which  the 
other  man  shrank. 

"Major  Jones,"  he  said,  "you  ask  me  to  be  merciful. 


152     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

You  appeal  to  my  pity.  For  such  as  you  I  have  no  pity, 
nor  have  I  ever  shown  any  mercy.  You  know  very  well,  and 
I  know,  that  when  once  the  hand  of  the  law  touches  your 
shoulder,  it  will  not  be  only  a  charge  of  blackmail  which 
the  police  will  bring  against  you !  " 

"  There  is  nothing  else  —  nothing  else !  "  he  cried. 
*'  Take  half  my  fortune,  Mr.  Ruff.  Let  me  get  away. 
Give  me  a  chance  —  just  a  sporting  chance !  " 

"  I  wonder,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  what  chance  that  poor 
old  lady  in  Weston  had .''  No,  I  am  not  saying  you  murdered 
her.  You  never  had  the  pluck.  Your  confederate  did  that, 
and  you  handled  the  booty.  What  were  the  initials  inside 
that  ring  you  showed  us  to-night.  Major  Jones.''  " 

"  Let  me  go  to  my  bedroom,"  he  said,  in  a  strange, 
far-away  tone.  "  You  can  come  with  me  and  stand 
outside." 

Peter  Ruff  assented. 

"  To  save  scandal,"  he  said,  "  yes  !  " 

Three  flights  of  stairs  they  climbed.  When  at  last  they 
reached  the  door,  the  trembling  man  made  one  last  appeal. 

"  Mr.  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  have  a  little  mercy.  Give  me  an 
hour's  start  —  just  a  chance  for  my  life!" 

Peter  Ruff  pushed  him  in  the  door. 

"  I  am  not  a  hard  man,"  he  said,  "  but  I  keep  my  mercy 
for  men !  " 

He  took  the  key  from  the  inside  of  the  door,  locked  it, 
and  with  the  key  in  his  pocket  descended  to  the  drawing- 
room.  The  young  lady  who  had  sat  on  Major  Jones's  right 
was  singing  a  ballad.  Suddenly  she  paused  in  the  middle 
of  her  song.  The  four  people  who  were  playing  bridge 
looked  up.    Mrs.  Bognor  screamed. 

"  What  was  that  ?  "  she  asked  quickly. 

"  It  sounded,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  very  much  like  a 
revolver  shot." 


MRS.  BOGNOR'S  STAR  BOARDER    153 

"  I  see,"  Sir  Richard  remarked,  with  a  queer  look  in  his 
eyes,  as  he  handed  over  a  roll  of  notes  to  Peter  Ruff,  "  the 
jury  brought  it  in  '  Suicide'!  What  I  can't  understand 
is  —  " 

"  Don't  try,"  Peter  Ruff  interrupted  briskly.  "  It  is  n't 
in  the  bond  that  you  should  understand." 

Sir  Richard  helped  himself  to  a  drink.  A  great  burden 
had  passed  from  his  shoulders,  but  he  was  not  feeling  at  his 
best  that  morning.  He  could  scarcely  keep  his  eyes  from 
Peter  Ruff. 

"  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  I  have  known  you  some  time,  and  I 
have  known  you  to  be  a  square  man.  I  have  known  you 
to  do  good-natured  actions.  I  came  to  you  in  desperation 
—  but  I  scarcely  expected  this!" 

Peter  Ruff  emptied  his  own  tumbler  and  took  up  his  hat. 

"  Sir  Richard,"  he  said,  "  you  are  like  a  good  many 
other  people.  Now  that  the  thing  is  done,  you  shrink  from 
the  thought  of  it.  You  even  wonder  how  I  could  have 
planned  to  bring  about  the  death  of  this  man.  Listen,  Sir 
Richard.  Pity  for  the  deserving,  or  for  those  who  have  in 
them  one  single  quality,  one  single  grain,  of  good,  is  a 
sentiment  which  deserves  respect.  Pity  for  vermin,  who 
crawl  about  the  world  leaving  a  poisonous  trail  upon  every- 
thing they  touch,  is  a  false  and  unnatural  sentiment.  For 
every  hopelessly  corrupt  man  who  is  induced  to  quit  this 
life  there  is  a  more  deserving  one,  somewhere  or  other,  for 
whom  the  world  is  a  better  place." 

"  So  that,  after  all,  you  are  a  philanthropist,  Mr.  Ruff," 
Sir  Richard  said,  with  a  forced  smile. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  A  philosopher,"  he  answered,  buttoning  up  his  notes. 


CHAPTER    IX 

,     THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN 

Peter  Ruff  came  down  to  his  office  with  a  single  letter 
in  his  hand,  bearing  a  French  postmark.  He  returned  his 
secretary's  morning  greeting  a  little  absently,  and  seated 
himself  at  his  desk. 

"  Violet,"  he  asked,  "  have  you  ever  been  to  Paris?  " 

She  looked  at  him  compassionately. 

"  More  times  than  you,  I  think,  Peter,"  she  answered. 

He  nodded. 

"  That,"  he  exclaimed,  "  is  very  possible !  Could  you 
get  ready  to  leave  by  the  two-twenty  this  afternoon.'*  " 

''  What,  alone?  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  No  —  with  me,"  he  answered. 

She  shut  down  her  desk  with  a  bang. 

"  Of  course  I  can !  "  she  exclaimed.     "  What  a  spree !  " 

Then  she  caught  sight  of  a  certain  expression  on  Peter 
Ruff's  face,  and  she  looked  at  him  wonderingly. 

"  Is  anything  wrong,  Peter?  "  she  asked. 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  I  cannot  say  that  anything  is 
wrong.  I  have  had  an  invitation  to  present  myself  before 
a  certain  society  in  Paris  of  which  you  have  some  indirect 
knowledge.     What  the  summons  means  I  cannot  say." 

"  Yet  you  go  ?  "  she  exclaimed, 

"  I  go,"  he  answered.  "  I  have  no  choice.  If  I  waited 
here  twenty-four  hours,  I  should  hear  of  it." 


THE   PERFIDY    OF   MISS    BROWN         155 

"  They  can  have  nothing  against  you,"  she  said.  "  On 
the  contrary,  the  only  time  they  have  appealed  for  your 
aid,  you  gave  it  —  very  valuable  aid  it  must  have  been, 
too." 

Peter  Ruiff  nodded. 

"  I  cannot  see,"  he  admitted,  "  what  they  can  have 
against  me.  And  yet,  somehow,  the  wording  of  my  invi- 
tation seemed  to  me  a  little  ominous.  Perhaps,"  he  added, 
walking  to  the  window  and  standing  looking  out  for  a 
moment,  "  I  have  a  liver  this  morning.  I  am  depressed, 
yiolet,  what  does  it  mean  when  you  are  depressed?  " 

"  Shall  you  wear  your  gray  clothes  for  travehng.''  "  she 
asked,  a  little  irrelevantly. 

"  I  have  not  made  up  my  mind,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 
*'  I  thought  of  wearing  my  brown,  with  a  brown  overcoat. 
What  do  you  suggest?  " 

"  I  like  you  in  brown,"  she  answered,  simply.  "  I  should 
change,  if  I  were  you." 

He  smiled  faintly. 

"  I  believe,"  he  said,  "  that  you  have  a  sort  of  super- 
stition that  as  I  change  my  clothes  I  change  my  humors." 

"  Should  I  be  so  very  far  wrong?  "  she  asked.  "  Don't 
think  that  I  am  laughing  at  you,  Peter.  The  greatest  men 
in  the  world  have  had  their  foibles." 

Peter  Ruff  frowned. 

"  We  shall  be  away  for  several  days,"  he  said.  "  Be  sure 
that  you  take  some  wraps.    It  will  be  cold,  crossing." 

"Are  3^ou  going  to  close  the  office  altogether?"  she 
asked. 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  Put  up  a  notice,"  he  said  — "  '  Back  on  Friday.' 
Pack  up  your  books  and  take  them  round  to  the  Bank 
before  you  leave.  The  lift  man  will  call  you  a  taxi- 
cab." 


156     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

He  watched  her  preparations  with  a  sort  of  gloomy 
calm. 

"  I  wish  you  'd  tell  me  what  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  " 
she  asked,  as  she  turned  to  follow  her  belongings. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  I  suppose  I  am 
suffering  from  what  you  would  call  presentiments.  Be  at 
Charing-Cross  punctually." 

"Why  do  you  go  at  all?"  she  asked.  "These  people 
are  of  no  further  use  to  you.  Only  the  other  day,  you  were 
saying  that  you  should  not  accept  any  more  outside  cases." 

"  I  must  go,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  I  am  not  afraid 
of  many  things,  but  I  should  be  afraid  of  disobeying  this 
letter." 

They  had  a  comfortable  journey  down,  a  cool,  bright 
crossing,  and  found  their  places  duly  reserved  for  them 
in  the  French  train.  Miss  Brown,  in  her  neat  traveling 
clothes  and  furs,  was  conscious  of  looking  her  best,  and 
she  did  all  that  was  possible  to  entertain  her  traveling  com- 
panion. But  Peter  Ruff  seemed  like  a  man  who  labors 
under  some  sense  of  apprehension.  He  had  faced  death 
more  than  once,  during  the  last  few  years  —  faced  it  with- 
out flinching,  and  with  a  certain  cool  disregard  which  can 
only  come  from  the  highest  sort  of  courage.  Yet  he  knew, 
when  he  read  over  again  in  the  train  that  brief  summons 
which  he  was  on  his  way  to  obey,  that  he  had  passed 
under  the  shadow  of  some  new  and  indefinable  fear.  He 
was  perfectly  well  aware,  too,  that  both  on  the  steamer 
and  on  the  French  train  he  was  carefully  shadowed.  This 
fact,  however,  did  not  surprise  him.  He  even  went  out  of 
his  way  to  enter  into  conversation  with  one  of  the  two  men 
whose  furtive  glances  into  their  compartment  and  whose 
constant  proximity  had  first  attracted  his  attention.  The 
man  was  civil  but  vague.  Nevertheless,  when  they  took 
their  places  in  the  dining-car,  they  found  the  two  men  at 


THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         157 

the    next    table.      Peter    Ruff    pointed   them    out    to    his 
companion. 

"  '  Double-Fours  ' !  "  he  whispered.  "  Don't  you  feel 
like  a  criminal.?  " 

She  laughed,  and  they  took  no  more  notice  of  the  men. 
But  as  the  train  drew  near  Paris,  he  felt  some  return  of  the 
depression  which  had  troubled  him  during  the  earlier  part 
of  the  day.  He  felt  a  sense  of  comfort  in  his  companion's 
presence  which  was  a  thing  utterly  strange  to  him.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  was  conscious  of  a  certain  regret  that  he 
had  brought  her  with  him  into  an  adventure  of  which  he 
could  not  foresee  the  end. 

The  hghts  of  Paris  flashed  around  them  —  the  train  was 
gradually  slackening  speed.  Peter  Ruff,  with  a  sigh,  be- 
gan to  collect  their  belongings. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  I  ought  not  to  have  brought  you." 

Something  in  his  voice  puzzled  her.  There  had  been 
very  few  times,  during  all  the  years  she  had  known  him, 
when  she  had  been  able  to  detect  anything  approaching 
sentiment  in  his  tone  —  and  those  few  times  had  been  when 
he  had  spoken  of  another  woman. 

"  Why  not.f^  "  she  asked,  eagerly. 

Peter  Ruff  looked  out  into  the  blackness,  through  the 
glittering  arc  of  lights,  and  perhaps  for  once  he  suffered 
his  fancy  to  build  for  him  visions  of  things  that  were  not 
of  earth.  If  so,  however,  it  was  a  moment  which  swiftly 
passed.  His  reply  was  in  a  tone  as  matter  of  fact  as  his 
usual  speech. 

"  Because,"  he  said,  "  I  do  not  exactly  see  the  end  of  my 
present  expedition  —  I  do  not  understand  its  object." 

"  You  have  some  apprehension.''  "  she  asked. 

"None  at  all,"  he  answered.  "Why  should  1?  There 
is  an  unwritten  bargain,"  he  added,  a  little  more  slowly, 
"  to  which  I  subscribed  with  our  friends  here,  and  I  have 


158     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

certainly  kept  it.  In  fact,  the  balance  is  on  my  side. 
There  is  nothing  for  me  to  fear." 

The  train  crept  into  the  Gare  du  Nord,  and  they  passed 
through  the  usual  routine  of  the  Customs  House.  Then, 
in  an  omnibus,  they  rumbled  slowly  over  the  cobblestones, 
through  the  region  of  barely  lit  streets  and  untidy  cafes, 
down  the  Rue  Lafayette,  across  the  famous  Square  and  into 
the  Rue  de  Rivoli. 

"  Our  movements,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked  dryly,  "  are 
too  well  known  for  us  to  attempt  to  conceal  them.  We 
may  as  well  stop  at  one  of  the  large  hotels.  It  will  be 
more  cheerful  for  you  while  I  am  away." 

They  engaged  rooms  at  the  Continental.  Miss  Brown, 
whose  apartments  were  in  the  wing  of  the  hotel  overlook- 
ing the  gardens,  ascended  at  once  to  her  room.  Peter 
Ruff,  who  had  chosen  a  small  suite  on  the  other  side,  went 
into  the  bar  for  a  whiskey  and  soda.  A  man  touched  him 
on  the  elbow. 

"  For  Monsieur,"  he  murmured,  and  vanished. 

Peter  Ruff  turned  and  opened  the  note.  It  bore  a  faint 
perfume,  it  had  a  coronet  upon  the  flap  of  the  envelope, 
and  it  was  written  in  a  delicate  feminine  handwriting. 

Deab  Mb.  Ruff: 

If  you  are  not  too  tired  with  your  journey,  will  you  call  soon 
after  one  o'clock  to  meet  some  old  friends? 

Blanche  de  Maupassim. 

Peter  Ruff  drank  his  whiskey  and  soda,  went  up  to  his 
rooms,  and  made  a  careful  toilet.  Then  he  sent  a  page 
up  for  Violet,  who  came  down  within  a  few  minutes.  She 
was  dressed  with  apparent  simplicity  in  a  high-necked 
gown,  a  large  hat,  and  a  single  rope  of  pearls.  In  place 
of  the  usual  gold  purse,  she  carried  a  small  white  satin 
bag,  exquisitely  hand-painted.  Everything  about  her  be- 
spoke  that   elegant   restraint   so   much   a   feature  of  the 


THE   PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         159 

Parisian  woman  of  fashion  herself.  Peter  Ruff,  who  had 
told  her  to  prepare  for  supping  out,  was  at  first  struck 
by  the  simplicity  of  her  attire.  Afterwards,  he  came  to 
appreciate  its  perfection. 

They  went  to  the  Cafe  de  Paris,  where  they  were  the 
first  arrivals.  People,  however,  began  to  stream  in  before 
they  had  finished  their  meal,  and  Peter  Ruff,  comparing 
his  companion's  appearance  with  the  more  flamboyant 
charms  of  these  ladies  from  the  Opera  and  the  theatres, 
began  to  understand  the  numerous  glances  of  admiration 
which  the  impressionable  Frenchmen  so  often  turned  in 
their  direction.  There  was  between  them,  toward  the 
end  of  the  meal,  something  which  amounted  almost  to 
nervousness. 

"  You  are  going  to  keep  your  appointment  to-night, 
Peter?  "  his  companion  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  As  soon  as  I  have  taken  you  home,"  he  said.  "  I  shall 
probably  return  late,  so  we  will  breakfast  here  to-morrow 
morning,  if  you  like,  at  half-past  twelve.  I  will  send  a 
note  to  your  room  when  I  am  ready." 

She  looked  him  in  the  eyes. 

"  Peter,"  she  said,  "  supposing  that  note  does  n't  come !  " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  My  dear  Violet,"  he  said,  "  you  and  I  —  or  rather  I, 
for  you  are  not  concerned  in  this  —  live  a  life  which  is 
a  little  different  from  the  lives  of  most  of  the  people  around 
us.  The  million  pay  their  taxes,  and  they  expect  police 
protection  in  times  of  danger.  For  me  there  is  no  such 
resource.  My  life  has  its  own  splendid  compensations. 
I  have  weapons  with  which  to  fight  any  ordinary  danger. 
What  I  want  to  explain  to  you  is  this  —  that  if  you  hear 
no  more  of  me,  you  can  do  nothing.  If  that  note  does  not 
come  to  you  in  the  morning,  you  can  do  nothing.     Wait 


i6o     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

here  for  three  days,  and  after  that  go  back  to  England. 
You  will  find  a  letter  on  your  desk,  telling  you  there  ex- 
actly what  to  do." 

"  You  have  something  in  your  mind,"  she  said,  "  of 
which  you  have  not  told  me." 

"  I  have  nothing,"  he  answered,  firmly.  "  Upon  my 
honor,  I  know  of  no  possible  cause  of  offense  which  our 
friends  could  have  against  me.  Their  summons  is,  I  will 
admit,  somewhat  extraordinary,  but  I  go  to  obey  it  abso- 
lutely without  fear.  You  can  sleep  well,  Violet.  We  lunch 
here  to-morrow,  without  a  doubt." 

They  drove  back  to  the  hotel  almost  in  silence.  Violet 
was  looking  fixedly  out  of  the  window  of  the  taxicab,  as 
though  interested  in  watching  the  crowds  upon  the  street. 
Peter  Ruff  appeared  to  be  absorbed  in  his  own  thoughts. 
Yet  perhaps  they  were  both  of  them  nearer  to  one  another 
than  either  surmised.  Their  parting  in  the  hall  of  the 
Continental  Hotel  was  unemotional  enough.  For  a  moment 
Peter  Ruff  had  hesitated  while  her  hand  had  lain  in  his. 
He  had  opened  his  lips  as  though  he  had  something  to  say. 
Her  eyes  grew  suddenly  softer  —  seemed  to  seek  his  as 
though  begging  for  those  unspoken  words.  But  Peter 
Ruff  did  not  say  them  then. 

"  I  shall  be  back  all  right,"  he  said.  "  Good  night, 
Violet !     Sleep  well !  " 

He  turned  back  towards  the  waiting  taxicab. 

"  Number  16,  Rue  de  St.  Quintaine,"  he  told  the  man. 

It  was  not  a  long  ride.  In  less  than  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  Peter  Ruff  presented  himself  before  a  handsome 
white  house  in  a  quiet,  aristocratic-looking  street.  At  his 
summons,  the  postern  door  flew  open,  and  a  man-servant 
in  plain  livery  stood  at  the  second  entrance. 

"  Madame  la  Marquise?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

The  man  bowed  in  silence,  and  took  the  visitor's  hat  and 


THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         i6i 

overcoat.  He  passed  along  a  spacious  hall  and  into  a 
delightfully  furnished  reception  room,  where  an  old  lady 
with  gray  hair  sat  in  the  midsb  of  a  little  circle  of  men. 
Peter  Ruff  stood,  for  a  moment,  upon  the  threshold,  look- 
ing around  him.     She  held  out  her  hands. 

"  It  is  Monsieur  Peter  Ruff,  is  it  not.-^  At  last,  then, 
I  am  gratified,  I  have  wished  for  so  long  to  see  one  who 
has  become  so  famous." 

Peter  Ruff  took  her  hands  in  his  and  raised  them  gal- 
lantly to  his  lips. 

"  Madame,"  he  said,  "  this  is  a  pleasure  indeed.  At  my 
last  visit  here,  you  were  in  Italy." 

"  I  grow  old,"  she  answered.  "  I  leave  Paris  but  little 
now.  Where  one  has  lived,  one  should  at  least  be  content 
to  die." 

"  Madame  speaks  a  philosophy,"  Peter  Ruff  answered, 
"  which  as  yet  she  has  no  need  to  learn." 

The  old  lady  turned  to  a  man  who  stood  upon  her  right : 

"  And  this  from  an  Englishman !  "  she  exclaimed. 

There  were  others  who  took  Peter  Ruff  by  the  hand 
then.  The  servants  were  handing  round  coffee  in  little 
Sevres  cups.  On  the  sideboard  was  a  choice  of  liqueurs 
and  bottles  of  wine.  Peter  Ruff  found  himself  hospitably 
entertained  with  both  small  talk  and  refreshments.  But 
every  now  and  then  his  eyes  wandered  back  to  where 
Madame  sat  in  her  chair,  her  hair  as  white  as  snow  — 
beautiful  still,  in  spite  of  the  cruel  mouth  and  the  narrow 
eyes. 

"  She  is  wonderful !  "  he  murmured  to  a  man  who  stood 
by  his  side. 

"  She  is  eighty-six,"  was  the  answer  in  a  whisper,  "  and 
she  knows  everything." 

As  the  clock  struck  two,  a  tall  footman  entered  the  room 
and  wheeled  Madame's  chair  away.     Several  of  the  guests 


I 


162     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

left  at  the  same  time.  Ruff,  when  the  door  was  closed, 
counted  those  who  remained.  As  he  had  imagined  would 
be  the  case,  he  found  that  there  were  eight. 

A  tall,  gray-bearded  man,  who  from  the  first  had 
attached  himself  to  Ruff,  and  who  seemed  to  act  as  a 
sort  of  master  of  ceremonies,  now  approached  him  once 
more  and  laid  his  hand  upon  his  shoulder. 

"  Mon  ami,"  he  said,  "  we  will  now  discuss,  if  it  pleases 
you,  the  little  matter  concerning  which  we  took  the  liberty 
of  asking  you  to  favor  us  with  a  visit." 

"  What,  here?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked,  in  some  surprise. 

His  friend,  who  had  introduced  himself  as  Monsieur  de 
Founcelles,  smiled. 

"  But  why  not.?  "  he  asked.  "  Ah,  but  I  think  I  under- 
stand !  "  he  added,  almost  immediately.  "  You  are  Eng- 
lish, Monsieur  Peter  Ruff,  and  in  some  respects  you  have 
not  moved  with  the  times.  Confess,  now,  that  your  idea 
of  a  secret  society  is  a  collection  of  strangely  attired  men 
who  meet  in  a  cellar,  and  build  subterranean  passages  in 
case  of  surprise.  In  Paris,  I  think,  we  have  gone  beyond 
that  sort  of  thing.  We  of  the  '  Double-Four '  have  no 
headquarters  save  the  drawing-room  of  Madame;  no 
hiding-places  whatsoever;  no  meeting-places  save  the 
fashionable  cafes  or  our  own  reception  rooms.  The  police 
follow  us  —  what  can  they  discover  ?  —  nothing !  What 
is  there  to  discover .?  —  nothing !  Our  lives  are  lived  before 
the  eyes  of  all  Paris.  There  is  never  any  suspicion  of 
mystery  about  any  of  our  movements.  We  have  our  hob- 
bies, and  we  indulge  in  them.  Monsieur  the  Marquis  de 
Sogrange  here  is  a  great  sportsman.  Monsieur  le  Comte 
owns  many  racehorses.  I  myself  am  an  authority  on  pic- 
tures, and  own  a  collection  wliich  I  have  bequeathed  to  the 
State.  Paris  knows  us  well  as  men  of  fashion  and  mark 
—  Paris  does  not  guess  that  we  have  perfected  an  or- 


THE   PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         163 

ganization  so  wonderful  that  the  whole  criminal  world 
pays  toll  to  us." 

"  Dear  mc,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  this  is  very  interesting!  " 

"  We  have  a  trained  army  at  our  disposal,"  Monsieur 
de  Founcelles  continued,  "  who  numerically,  as  well  as 
in  intelligence,  outnumber  the  whole  force  of  gendarmes  in 
Paris.  No  criminal  from  any  other  country  can  settle 
down  here  and  hope  for  success,  unless  he  joins  us.  An 
exploit  which  is  inspired  b}'^  us  cannot  fail.  Our  agents 
may  count  on  our  protection,  and  receive  it  without 
question." 

"  I  am  bewildered,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  frankly.  "  I  do 
not  understand  how  you  gentlemen  —  whom  one  knows  by 
name  so  well  as  patrons  of  sport  and  society,  can  spare 
the  time  for  affairs  of  such  importance." 

Monsieur  de  Founcelles  nodded. 

"  We  have  very  valuable  aid,"  he  said.  "  There  is  be- 
low us  —  the  '  Double-Four  '  —  the  eight  gentlemen  now 
present,  an  executive  council  composed  of  five  of  the 
shrewdest  men  in  France.  They  take  their  orders  from  us. 
We  plan,  and  they  obey.  We  have  imagination,  and 
special  sources  of  knowledge.  They  have  the  most  perfect 
machinery  for  carrying  out  our  schemes  that  it  is  possible 
to  imagine.  I  do  not  wish  to  boast,  Mr.  Ruff,  but  if  I 
take  a  directory  of  Paris  and  place  after  any  man's  name, 
whatever  his  standing  or  estate,  a  black  cross,  that  man 
dies  before  seven  days  have  passed.  You  buy  your  evening 
paper  —  a  man  has  committed  suicide !  You  read  of  a 
letter  found  by  his  side :  an  unfortunate  love  affair  —  a 
tale  of  jealousy  or  reckless  speculation.  Mr.  Ruff,  the 
majority  of  these  explanations  are  false.  They  are  in- 
vented and  arranged  for  by  us.  This  year  alone,  five  men 
in  Paris,  of  position,  have  been  found  dead,  and  accounted, 
for  excellent  reasons,  suicides.     In  each  one  of  these  cases, 


i64     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Monsieur  Ruff,  although  not  a  soul  has  a  suspicion  of  it, 
the  removal  of  these  men  was  arranged  for  by  the  '  Double- 
Four.'  " 

"  I  trust,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  that  it  may  never  be  my 
ill-fortune  to  incur  the  displeasure  of  so  marvelous  an 
association." 

"  On  the  contrary,  Monsieur  Ruff,"  the  other  answered, 
"  the  attention  of  the  association  has  been  directed  towards 
certain  incidents  of  your  career  in  a  most  favorable  man- 
ner. We  have  spoken  of  you  often  lately,  Mr.  Ruff,  be- 
tween ourselves.  We  arrive  now  at  the  object  for  which 
we  begged  the  honor  of  your  visit.  It  is  to  offer  you  the 
Presidency  of  our  Executive  Council." 

Peter  Ruff  had  thought  of  many  things,  but  he  had 
not  thought  of  this !  He  gasped,  recovered  himself,  and 
realized  at  once  the  dangers  of  the  position  in  which  he 
stood. 

"  The  Council  of  Five !  "  he  said  thoughtfully. 

"  Precisely,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  replied.  "  The 
salary  —  forgive  me  for  giving  such  prominence  to  a 
matter  which  you  doubtless  consider  of  secondary  impor- 
tance —  is  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year,  with  a  residence 
here  and  in  London  —  also  servants." 

"  It  is  princely !  "  Peter  Ruff'  declared.  "  I  cannot 
imagine,  Monsieur,  how  you  could  have  believed  me  capable 
of  filling  such  a  position." 

"  There  is  not  much  about  you,  Mr.  Ruff,  which  we  do 
not  know,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  answered.  "  There  are 
points  about  your  career  which  we  have  marked  with 
admiration.  Your  work  over  here  was  rapid  and  com- 
prehensive. We  know  all  about  your  checkmating  the 
Count  von  Hern  and  the  Comtesse  de  Pilitz.  We  have 
appealed  to  you  for  aid  once  only  —  your  response  was 
prompt  and  brilliant.     You  have  all  the  quahfications  we 


THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         165 

desire.  You  are  still  young,  physically  you  are  sound, 
you  speak  all  languages,  and  you  are  unmarried." 

"  I  am  what?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked,  with  a  start. 

"  A  bachelor,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  answered.  "  We 
who  have  made  crime  and  its  detection  a  life-long  study, 
have  reduced  many  matters  concerning  it  to  almost  mathe- 
matical exactitude.  Of  one  thing  we  have  become  abso- 
lutely convinced  —  it  is  that  the  great  majority  of  cases 
in  which  the  police  triumph  are  due  to  the  treachery  of 
women.  The  criminal  who  steers  clear  of  the  other  sex 
escapes  a  greater  danger  than  the  detectives  who  dog  his 
heels.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  we  choose  only  un- 
married men  for  our  executive  council." 

Peter  Ruff  made  a  gesture  of  despair. 

"  And  I  am  to  be  married  in  a  month !  "  he  exclaimed. 

There  was  a  murmur  of  dismay.  If  those  other  seven 
men  had  not  once  intervened,  it  was  because  the  conduct 
of  the  affair  had  been  voted  into  the  hands  of  Monsieur 
de  Founcelles,  and  there  was  little  which  he  had  left  unsaid. 
Nevertheless,  they  had  formed  a  little  circle  around  the 
two  men.  Every  word  passing  between  them  had  been 
listened  to  eagerly.  Gestures  and  murmured  exclamations 
had  been  frequent  enough.  There  arose  now  a  chorus  of 
voices  which  their  leader  had  some  difficulty  in  silencing. 

"  It  must  be  arranged !  " 

"  But  it  is  impossible  —  this  !  " 

"  Monsieur  Ruff  amuses  himself  with  us !  " 

"  Gentlemen,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  I  can  assure  you  that 
I  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  The  affair  was  arranged  some 
months  ago,  and  the  young  lady  is  even  now  in  Paris, 
purchasing  her  trousseau." 

Monsieur  de  Founcelles,  with  a  wave  of  the  hand,  com- 
manded silence.  There  was  probably  a  way  out.  In  any 
case,  one  must  be  found. 


i66    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Monsieur  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  putting  aside,  for  one 
moment,  your  sense  of  honor,  which  of  course  forbids  you 
even  to  consider  the  possibility  of  breaking  your  word  — 
supposing  that  the  young  lady  herself  should  with- 
draw —  " 

"  You  don't  know  Miss  Brown !  "  Peter  Ruff  interrupted. 

"  It  is  a  pleasure  to  which  I  hope  to  attain,"  Monsieur 
de  Founcelles  declared,  smoothly.  "  Let  us  consider  once 
more  my  proposition.  I  take  it  for  granted  that,  apart 
from  this  threatened  complication,  you  find  it  agreeable.?  " 

"  I  am  deeply  honored  by  it,"  Peter  Ruff  declared. 

"  Well,  that  being  so,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  said, 
more  cheerfully,  "  we  must  see  whether  we  cannot  help 
you.  Tell  me,  who  is  this  fortunate  young  lady  —  this 
Miss  Brown.?  " 

"  She  is  a  young  person  of  good  birth  and  some  means," 
Peter  Ruff  declared.  "  She  is,  in  a  small  way,  an  actress ; 
she  has  also  been  my  secretary  from  the  first." 

Monsieur  de  Founcelles  nodded  his  head  thoughtfully. 

"  Ah !  "  he  said.  "  She  knows  your  secrets,  then,  I 
presume.?  " 

"  She  does,"  Peter  Ruff  assented.  "  She  knows  a  great 
deal!" 

"  A  young  person  to  be  conciliated  by  all  means," 
Monsieur  de  Founcelles  declared.  "  Well,  we  must  see. 
When,  Monsieur  Ruff,  may  I  have  the  opportunity  of 
making  the  acquaintance  of  this  young  lady.?  " 

*'  To-morrow  morning,  or  rather  this  morning,  if  you 
will,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  We  are  taking  breakfast 
together  at  the  Cafe  de  Paris.  It  will  give  me  great 
pleasure  if  you  will  join  us." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  declared, 
"  I  must  beg  of  you  slightly  to  alter  your  plans.  I  will 
ask  you  and  Mademoiselle  to  do  me  the  honor  of  break- 


THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         167 

fasting  at  the  Ritz  with  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange  and 
myself,  at  the  same  hour.  We  shall  find  there  more  oppor- 
tunity for  a  short  discussion." 

"  I  am  entirely  at  your  service,"  Peter  Ruff  answered. 

There  were  signs  now  of  a  breaking-up  of  the  little 
party. 

"  We  must  all  regret,  dear  Monsieur  Ruff,"  Monsieur 
de  Founcelles  said,  as  he  made  his  adieux,  "  this  tem- 
porary obstruction  to  the  consummation  of  our  hopes. 
Let  us  pray  that  Mademoiselle  will  not  be  unreasonable." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  Peter  Ruff  murmured. 

Peter  Ruff  drove  through  the  gray  dawn  to  his  hotel, 
in  the  splendid  automobile  of  Monsieur  de  Founcelles, 
whose  homeward  route  lay  in  that  direction.  It  was  four 
o'clock  when  he  accepted  his  key  from  a  sleepy-looking 
clerk,  and  turned  towards  the  staircase.  The  hotel  was 
wrapped  in  semi-gloom.  Sweepers  and  cleaners  were  at 
work.  The  palms  had  been  turned  out  into  the  courtyard. 
Dust  sheets  lay  over  the  furniture.  One  person  only,  save 
himself  and  the  untidy-looking  servants,  was  astir.  From 
a  distant  corner  which  commanded  the  entrance,  he  saw 
Violet  stealing  away  to  the  corridor  which  led  to  her  part 
of  the  hotel.  She  had  sat  there  all  through  the  night  to 
see  him  come  in  —  to  be  assured  of  his  safety !  Peter  Ruff 
stared  after  her  disappearing  figure  as  one  might  have 
watched  a  ghost. 

The  luncheon-party  was  a  great  success.  Peter  Ruff 
was  human  enough  to  be  proud  of  his  companion  —  proud 
of  her  smartness,  which  was  indubitable  even  here,  sur- 
rounded as  they  were  by  Frenchwomen  of  the  best  class ; 
proud  of  her  accent,  of  the  admiration  which  she  obviously 
excited  in  the  two  Frenchmen.  His  earlier  enjoyment  of 
the  meal  was  a  little  clouded  from  the  fact  that  he  felt  him- 
self utterly  outshone  in  the  matter  of  general  appearance. 


i68     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

No  tailor  had  ever  suggested  to  him  a  coat  so  daring 
and  yet  so  perfect  as  that  which  adorned  the  person  of 
the  Marquis  de  Sogrange.  The  deep  violet  of  his  tie  was 
a  shade  unknown  in  Bond  Street  —  inimitable  —  a  true 
education  in  color.  They  had  the  bearing,  too,  these 
Frenchmen !  He  watched  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  bending 
over  Violet,  and  he  was  suddenly  conscious  of  a  wholly 
new  sensation.  He  did  not  recognize  —  could  not  even 
classify  it.  He  only  knew  that  it  was  not  altogether 
pleasant,  and  that  it  set  the  warm  blood  tingling  through 
his  veins. 

It  was  not  until  they  were  sitting  out  in  the  winter 
garden,  taking  their  coffee  and  liqueurs,  that  the  object 
of  their  meeting  was  referred  to.  Then  Monsieur  de  Foun- 
celles drew  Violet  a  little  away  from  the  others,  and  the 
Marquis,  with  a  meaning  smile,  took  Peter  Ruff's  arm  and 
led  him  on  one  side.  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  wasted  no 
words  at  all. 

"  Mademoiselle,"  he  said,  "  Monsieur  Ruff  has  doubtless 
told  you  that  last  night  I  made  him  the  offer  of  a  great 
position  among  us." 

She  looked  at  him  with  twinkling  eyes.  / 

"  Go  on,  please,"  she  said. 

"  I  offered  him  a  position  of  great  dignity  —  of  great 
responsibility,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  continued.  "  I 
cannot  explain  to  you  its  exact  nature,  but  it  is  in  con- 
nection with  the  most  wonderful  organization  of  its  sort 
which  the  world  has  ever  known." 

"  The  '  Double-Four,'  "  she  murmured. 

"  Attached  to  the  post  is  a  princely  salary  and  but  one 
condition,"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles  said,  watching  the 
girl's  face.  "  The  condition  is  that  Mr.  Ruff  remains  a 
bachelor." 

Violet  nodded. 


"The  'Double  Four,'  "  she  murmured. 

Page  1 68. 


A 


THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         169 

*'  Peter  's  told  me  all  this,"  she  remarked.  "  He  wants 
me  to  give  him  up." 

Monsieur  de  Founcelles  drew  a  little  closer  to  his 
companion.     There  was  a  peculiar  smile  upon  his  lips. 

"  My  dear  young  lady,"  he  said  softly,  "  forgive  me  if 
I  point  out  to  you  that  with  your  appearance  and  gifts  a 
marriage  with  our  excellent  friend  is  surely  not  the  summit 
of  your  ambitions !  Here  in  Paris,  I  promise  you,  here  — 
we  can  do  much  better  than  that  for  you.  You  have  not, 
perhaps,  a  dot?  Good !  That  is  our  affair.  Give  up  our 
friend  here,  and  we  deposit  in  any  bank  you  like  to  name 
the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs." 

"  Two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs ! "  Violet 
repeated,  slowly. 

Monsieur  de  Founcelles  nodded. 

"  It  is  enough?  "  he  asked. 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  It  is  not  enough,"  she  answered. 

Monsieur  de  Founcelles  raised  his  eyebrows. 

"  We  do  not  bargain,"  he  said  coldly,  "  and  money  is 
not  the  chief  thing  in  the  world.  It  is  for  you,  then,  to 
name  a  sum." 

"  Monsieur  de  Founcelles,"  she  said,  "  can  3^  ou  tell  me 
the  amount  of  the  national  debt  of  France?  " 

"  Somewhere  about  nine  hundred  million  francs,  I 
believe,"    he    answered. 

She  nodded. 

"  That  is  exactly  my  price,"  she  declared. 

"  For  giving  up  Peter  Ruff?  "  he  gasped. 

She  looked  at  her  employer  thoughtfully. 

*'  He  does  n't  look  worth  it,  docs  he?  "  she  said,  with  a 
queer  little  smile.  "  I  happen  to  care  for  him,  though  — 
that 's  all." 

Monsieur   de  Founcelles   shrugged   his    shoulders.      He 


I70     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

knew  men  and  women,  and  for  the  present  he  accepted 
defeat.    He  sighed  heavily. 

"  I  congratulate  our  friend,  and  I  envy  him,"  he  said. 
"  If  ever  you  should  change  your  mind.  Mademoiselle  —  " 

"It  is  our  privilege,  isn't  it?"  she  remarked,  with  a 
brilliant  smile.     "  If  I  do,  I  shall  certainly  let  you  know." 

On  the  way  home,  Peter  Ruff  was  genial  —  Miss  Brown 
silent.  He  had  escaped  from  a  difficult  position,  and  his 
sense  of  gratitude  toward  his  companion  was  strong.  He 
showed  her  many  little  attentions  on  the  voyage  which 
sometimes  escaped  him.  From  Dover,  they  had  a  carriage 
to  themselves. 

"  Peter,"  Miss  Brown  said,  after  he  had  made  her 
comfortable,  "  when  is  it  to  be?  " 

"  When  is  what  to  be  ?  "  he  asked,  puzzled. 

"  Our  marriage,"  she  answered,  looking  at  him  for  a 
moment  in  most  bewildering  fashion  and  then  suddenly 
dropping  her  eyes. 

Peter  Ruff  returned  her  gaze  in  blank  amazement. 

"  What  do  you  mean,  Violet?  "  he  exclaimed. 

"  Just  what  I  say,"  she  answered,  composedly.  "  When 
are  we  going  to  be  married?  " 

Peter  Ruff  frowned. 

"  What  nonsense !  "  he  said.  "  We  are  not  going  to 
be  married.     You  know  that  quite  well." 

"Oh,  no,  I  don't!"  she  declared,  smiling  at  him  in  a 
heavenly  fashion.  "  At  your  request  I  have  told  Monsieur 
de  Founcelles  that  we  were  engaged.  Incidentally,  I  have 
refused  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs  and,  I 
believe,  an  admirer,  for  your  sake.  I  declared  that  I  was 
going  to  marry  you,  and  I  must  keep  my  word." 

Peter  Ruff  began  to  feel  giddy. 

"  Look  here,  Violet,"  he  said,  "  you  know  very  well  that 
we  arranged  all  that  between  ourselves." 


THE    PERFIDY    OF    MISS    BROWN         171 

**  Arranged  all  that  ?  "  she  repeated,  with  a  little  laugh. 
"  Perhaps  we  did.  You  asked  me  to  marry  you,  and  you 
have  posed  as  my  fiance.  You  kept  it  up  just  as  long  as 
it  suited  you  —  it  suits  me  to  keep  it  up  a  little  longer." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  —  do  you  seriously  mean  that  you 
expect  me  to  marry  you.''  "  he  asked,  aghast. 

"  I  do,"  she  admitted.  "  I  have  meant  you  to  for  some 
time,   Peter !  " 

She  was  very  alluring,  and  Peter  Ruff  hesitated.  She 
held  out  her  hands  and  leaned  towards  him.  Her  muff  fell 
to  the  floor.  She  had  raised  her  veil,  and  a  faint  perfume 
of  violets  stole  into  the  carriage.  Her  lips  were  a  little 
parted,  her  eyes  were  saying  unutterable  things. 

"  You  don't  want  me  to  sue  you,  do  you,  Peter.''  "  she 
murmured. 

Peter  Ruff  sighed  —  and  yielded. 


CHAPTER    X 

WONDERFUL    JOHN    DORY 

The  woman  who  had  been  Peter  Ruff's  first  love  had 
fallen  upon  evil  days.  Her  prettiness  was  on  the  wane  — 
powder  and  rouge,  late  hours,  and  excesses  of  many  kinds, 
had  played  havoc  with  it,  even  in  these  few  months.  Her 
clothes  were  showy  but  cheap.  Her  boots  themselves,  un- 
clean and  down  at  heel,  told  the  story.  She  stood  upon  the 
threshold  of  Peter  Ruff's  office,  and  looked  half  defiantly, 
half  doubtfully  at  Violet,  who  was  its  sole  occupant. 

"  Can  I  do  anything  for  you.^  "  the  latter  asked,  noticing 
the  woman's  hesitation. 

"  I  want  to  see  Mr.  Ruff,"  the  visitor  said. 

"  Mr.  Ruff  is  out  at  present,"  Violet  answered. 

"When  will  he  be  in?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,"  Violet  said.  "  Perhaps  you  had 
better  leave  a  message.  Or  will  you  call  again .f*  Mr.  Ruff 
is  very  uncertain  in  his  movements." 

Maud  sank  into  a  chair. 

"  I  '11  wait,"  she  declared. 

"  I  am  not  sure,"  Violet  remarked,  raising  her  eyebrows, 
"  whether  that  will  be  convenient.  There  may  be  other 
clients  in.  Mr.  Ruff  himself  may  not  be  back  for  several 
hours." 

"  Are  you  his  secretary.''  "  Maud  asked,  without  moving. 


WONDERFUL    JOHN    DORY  173 

"  I  am  his  secretary  and  also  his  wife,"  Violet  declared. 

The  woman  raised  herself  a  little  in  her  chair. 

"  Some  people  have  all  the  luck,"  she  muttered.  "  It  's 
only  a  few  months  ago  that  Mr.  Rufif  was  glad  enough  to 
take  me  out.    You  remember  when  I  used  to  come  here?  " 

"  I  remember,"  Violet  assented. 

"  I  was  all  right  then,"  the  woman  continued,  "  and 
now  —  now  I  'm  down  and  out,"  she  added,  with  a  little  sob. 
"  You  see  what  I  am  like.  You  look  as  though  you  did  n't 
care  to  have  me  in  the  office,  and  I  don't  wonder  at  it.  You 
look  as  though  you  were  afraid  I  'd  come  to  beg,  and  you 
are  right  —  I  have  come  to  beg." 

"  I  am  sure  Mr.  Ruff  will  do  what  he  can  for  you," 
Violet  said,  "  although  —  " 

"  I  see  you  know  all  about  it,"  Maud  interrupted,  with  a 
hard  little  laugh.  "  I  came  once  to  wheedle  information  out 
of  him.  I  came  to  try  and  betray  the  only  man  who  ever 
really  cared  for  me.  Mr.  Ruff  was  too  clever,  and  I  am 
thankful  for  it.  I  have  been  as  big  a  fool  as  a  woman  can 
be,  but  I  am  paying  —  oh,  I  am  paying  for  it  right 
enough !  " 

She  swayed  in  her  chair,  and  Violet  was  only  just  in  time 
to  catch  her.  She  led  the  fainting  woman  to  an  inner  room, 
made  her  comfortable  upon  a  sofa,  and  sent  out  for  some 
food  and  a  bottle  of  wine.  Down  in  the  street  below,  John 
Dory,  who  had  tracked  his  wife  to  the  building,  was  walk- 
ing away  with  face  as  black  as  night.  He  knew  that  Maud 
had  lost  her  position,  that  she  was  in  need  of  money  — 
almost  penniless.  He  had  waited  to  see  to  whom  she  would 
turn,  hoping  —  poor  fool  as  he  called  himself  —  that  she 
would  come  back  to  him.  And  it  was  his  enemy  to  whom 
she  had  gone !  He  had  seen  her  enter  the  building ;  he 
knew  that  she  had  not  left  it.  In  the  morning  they  brought 
him  another  report  —  she  was  still  within.     It  was  the  end. 


174    PETER   RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

this,  he  told  himself !    There  must  be  a  settlement  between 
him  and  Peter  Ruff! 

Mr.  John  Dory,  who  had  arrived  at  Clenarvon  Court 
in  a  four-wheel  cab  from  the  nearest  railway  station,  was 
ushered  by  the  butler  to  the  door  of  one  of  the  rooms  on 
the  ground  floor,  overlooking  the  Park.  A  policeman  was 
there  on  guard  —  a  policeman  by  his  attitude  and  salute, 
although  he  was  in  plain  clothes.  John  Dory  nodded,  and 
turned  to  the  butler. 

"  You  see,  the  man  knows  me,"  he  said.  "  Here  is  my 
card.  I  am  John  Dory  from  Scotland  Yard.  I  want  to 
have  a  few  words  with  the  sergeant." 

The  butler  hesitated. 

"  Our  orders  are  very  strict,  sir,"  he  said.  "  I  am  afraid 
that  I  cannot  allow  you  to  enter  the  room  without  a  special 
permit  from  his  lordship.  You  see,  we  have  had  no  advice 
of  your  coming." 

John  Dory  nodded. 

"  Quite  right,"  he  answered.  "  If  every  one  were  to  obey 
his  orders  as  literally,  there  would  be  fewer  robberies. 
However,  you  see  that  this  man  recognizes  me." 

The  butler  turned  toward  an  elderly  gentleman  in  a 
pink  coat  and  riding-breeches,  who  had  just  descended  into 
the  hall. 

"  His  lordship  is  here,"  he  said.  "  He  will  give  you 
permission,  without  a  doubt.  There  is  a  gentleman  from 
Scotland  Yard,  your  lordship,"  he  explained,  "  Avho  wishes 
to  enter  the  morning-room  to  speak  with  the  sergeant." 

"  Inspector  John  Dory,  at  your  lordship's  service,"  sa- 
luting. "  I  have  been  sent  down  from  town  to  help  in 
this  little  business." 

Lord   Clenarvon   smiled. 

"  I  should  have  thought  that,  under  the  circumstances," 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  175 

he  said,  *'  two  of  you  would  have  been  enough.  Still,  it  is 
not  for  me  to  complain.  Pray  go  in  and  speak  to  the 
sergeant.  You  will  find  him  inside.  Rather  dull  work  for 
him,  I  'm  afraid,  and  quite  unnecessary." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure,  your  lordship,"  Dory  answered. 
"  The  Clenarvon  diamonds  are  known  all  over  the  world, 
and  I  suppose  there  is  n't  a  thieves'  den  in  Europe  that 
does  not  know  that  they  will  remain  here  exposed  with  your 
daughter's  other  wedding  presents." 

Lord  Clenarvon  smiled  once  more  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders.  He  was  a  man  who  had  unbounded  faith  in  his 
fellow-creatures. 

"  I  suppose,"  he  said,  "  it  is  the  penalty  one  has  to  pay 
for  historical  possessions.  Go  in  and  talk  to  the  sergeant, 
by  all  means,  Mr.  Dory.  I  hope  that  Graves  will  succeed  in 
making  you  comfortable  during  your  stay  here." 

John  Dory  was  accordingly  admitted  into  the  room  which 
was  so  jealously  guarded.  At  first  sight,  it  possessed  a 
somewhat  singular  appearance.  The  windows  had  every 
one  of  them  been  boarded  up,  and  the  electric  lights  conse- 
quently fully  turned  on.  A  long  table  stood  in  the  middle  of 
the  apartment,  serving  as  support  for  a  long  glass  show- 
case, open  at  the  top.  Within  this,  from  end  to  end, 
stretched  the  presents  which  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances 
were  presenting  to  one  of  the  most  popular  young  women  in 
society,  on  the  occasion  of  her  approaching  marriage  to  the 
Duke  of  Rochester.  In  the  middle,  the  wonderful  Clenar- 
von diamonds,  set  in  the  form  of  a  tiara,  flashed  strange 
lights  into  the  somberly  lit  apartment.  At  the  end  of  the 
table,  a  police  sergeant  was  sitting,  with  a  little  pile  of 
newspapers  and  illustrated  journals  before  him.  He  rose 
to  his  feet  with  alacrity  at  his  superior's  entrance. 

"  Good  morning,  Saunders,"  John  Dory  said.  "  I  see 
you  've  got  it  pretty  snug  in  here." 


176     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Pretty  well,  thank  you,  sir,"  Saunders  answered.  "  Is 
there  anything  stirring?  " 

John  Dory  looked  behind  to  be  sure  that  the  door  was 
closed.  Then  he  stopped  for  a  moment  to  gaze  at  the 
wonderful  diamonds,  and  finally  sat  on  the  table  by  his 
subordinate's  side. 

"  Not  exactly  that,  Saunders,"  he  said.  "  To  tell  you 
the  truth,  I  came  down  here  because  of  that  list  of  guests 
you  sent  me  up." 

Saunders   smiled. 

"  I  think  I  can  guess  the  name  you  singled  out,  sir,"  he 
said. 

"  It  was  Peter  Ruff,  of  course,"  Dory  said.  "  What  is 
he  doing  here  in  the  house,  under  his  own  name,  and  as  a 
guest  .^  " 

"  I  have  asked  no  questions,  sir,"  Saunders  answered. 
"  I  underlined  the  name  in  case  it  might  seem  worth  your 
while  to  make  inquiries." 

John  Dory  nodded. 

"  Nothing  has  happened,  of  course.''  "  he  asked. 

"  Nothing,"  Saunders  answered.  "  You  see,  with  the 
windows  all  boarded  up,  there  is  practically  only  the  ordi- 
nary door  to  guard,  so  we  feel  fairly  secure." 

"No  one  hanging  about.''  "  the  detective  asked.  "Mr. 
Ruff  himself,  for  instance,  has  n't  been  trying  to  make  your 
acquaintance?  " 

"  No  sign  of  it,  sir,"  the  man  answered.  "  I  saw  him 
pass  through  the  hall  yesterday  afternoon,  as  I  went  off 
duty,  and  he  was  in  riding  clothes  all  splashed  with  mud. 
I  think  he  has  been  hunting  every  day." 

John  Dory  muttered  something  between  his  lips,  and 
turned  on  his  heel. 

"  How  many  men  have  you  here,  Saunders  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Only  two,  sir,  beside  myself,"  the  man  replied. 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  177 

The  detective  went  round  the  boarded  windows,  ex- 
amining the  work  carefully  until  he  reached  the  door. 

"  I  am  going  to  see  if  I  can  have  a  word  with  his  lord- 
ship," he  said. 

He  caught  Lord  Clenarvon  in  the  act  of  mounting 
his  horse  in  the  great  courtyard. 

"What  is  it,  Mr.  Dory.?"  the  Earl  asked,  stooping 
down. 

"  There  is  one  name,  your  lordship,  among  your  list 
of  guests,  concerning  which  I  wish  to  have  a  word  with 
you,"  the  detective  said  - —  "  the  name  of  Mr.  Peter  Ruff." 

"  Don't  know  anything  about  him,"  Lord  Clenarvon 
answered,  cheerfully.  "  You  must  see  my  daughter.  Lady 
Mary.  It  was  she  who  sent  him  his  invitation.  Seems  a 
decent  little  fellow,  and  rides  as  well  as  the  best.  You  '11 
find  Lady  Mary  about  somewhere,  if  you  'd  like  to  ask 
her." 

Lord  Clenarvon  hurried  off,  with  a  little  farewell  wave 
of  his  crop,  and  John  Dory  returned  into  the  house  to 
make  inquiries  respecting  Lady  Mary.  In  a  very  few 
minutes  he  was  shown  into  her  presence.  She  smiled  at 
him  cheerfully. 

"  Another  detective !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  I  am  sure  I 
ought  to  feel  quite  safe  now.  What  can  I  do  for  you, 
Mr.    Dory.?" 

"  I  have  had  a  list  of  the  guests  sent  to  me,"  Dory 
answered,  "  in  which  I  notice  the  name  of  Mr.  Peter  Ruff." 

Lady  INIar}^  nodded. 

"Well.?"  she  asked. 

"  I  have  just  spoken  to  his  lordship,"  the  detective 
continued,  "  and  he  referred  me  to  you." 

"Do  you  want  to  know  all  about  Mr.  Ruff.?"  Lady 
Mary  asked,  smiling. 

"  If  your  ladyship  will  pardon  my  saying  so,  I  think 


178    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

that  neither  you  nor  any  one  else  could  tell  me  that.  What 
I  wished  to  say  was  that  I  understood  that  we  at  Scotland 
Yard  were  placed  in  charge  of  your  jewels  until  after  the 
wedding.  Mr.  Peter  Ruff  is,  as  you  may  be  aware,  a 
private  detective  himself." 

"  I  understand  perfectly,"  Lady  Mary  said.  "  I  can 
assure  you,  Mr.  Dory,  that  Mr.  Ruff  is  here  entirely  as  a 
personal  and  very  valued  friend  of  my  own.  On  two  occa- 
sions he  has  rendered  very  signal  service  to  my  family  — 
services  which  I  am  quite  unable  to  requite." 

"  In  that  case,  your  ladyship,  there  is  nothing  more  to 
be  said.  I  conceive  it,  however,  to  be  my  duty  to  tell  you 
that  in  our  opinion  —  the  opinion  of  Scotland  Yard  — 
there  are  things  about  the  career  of  Mr.  Peter  Ruff  which 
need  explanation.  He  is  a  person  whom  we  seldom  let 
altogether  out  of  our  sight." 

Lady  Mary  laughed  frankly. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Dory,"  she  said,  "  this  is  one  of  the 
cases,  then,  in  which  I  can  assure  you  that  I  know  more 
than  Scotland  Yard.  There  is  no  person  in  the  world  in 
whom  I  have  more  confidence,  and  with  more  reason,  than 
Mr.   Peter   Ruff." 

John  Dory  bowed. 

*'  I  thank  your  ladyship,"  he  said.  "  I  trust  that  your 
confidence  will  never  be  misplaced.  May  I  ask  one  more 
question?  " 

"  Certainly,"  Lady  Mary  replied,  "  so  long  as  you  make 
no  insinuations  whatever  against  my  friend." 

"  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  do  so,"  John  Dory  declared. 
"  I  simply  wish  to  know  whether  Mr.  Ruff  has  any  in- 
structions from  you  with  reference  to  the  care  of  your 
jewels?  " 

"  Certainly  not,"  Lady  Mary  replied,  decidedly.  "  Mr. 
Ruff  is  here  entirely  as  my  guest.    He  has  been  in  the  room 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  179 

with  the  rest  of  us,  to  look  at  them,  and  it  was  he,  by  the 
bye,  who  discovered  a  much  more  satisfactory  way  of 
boarding  the  windows.     Anything  else,  Mr.  Dory?  " 

"  I  thank  your  ladyship,  nothing !  "  the  detective  an- 
swered. "  With  your  permission,  I  propose  to  remain 
here  until  after  the  ceremony." 

"  Just  as  you  like,  of  course,"  Lady  Mary  said.  "  I 
hope  you  will  be  comfortable." 

John  Dory  bowed,  and  returned  to  confer  with  his 
sergeant.  Afterwards,  finding  the  morning  still  fine,  he 
took  his  hat  and  went  for  a  walk  in  the  park. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  this,  in  some  respects  the  most  re- 
markable of  the  adventures  which  had  ever  befallen  Mr. 
Peter  Ruff,  came  to  him  by  accident.  Lady  Mary  had 
read  the  announcement  of  his  marriage  in  the  paper,  had 
driven  at  once  to  his  office  with  a  magnificent  present,  and 
insisted  upon  his  coming  with  his  wife  to  the  party  which 
was  assembling  at  Clenarvon  Court  in  honor  of  her  own 
approaching  wedding.  Peter  Ruff  had  taken  few  holidays 
of  late  years,  and  for  several  days  had  thoroughly  en- 
joyed himself.  The  matter  of  the  Clenarvon  jewels  he  con- 
sidered, perhaps,  with  a  slight  professional  interest;  but 
so  far  as  he  could  see,  the  precautions  for  guarding  them 
were  so  adequate  that  the  subject  did  not  remain  in  his 
memory.  He  had,  however,  a  very  distinct  and  disagree- 
able shock  when,  on  the  night  of  John  Dory's  appearance, 
he  recognized  among  a  few  newly-arrived  guests  the 
Marquis  de  Sogrange.  He  took  the  opportunity,  as  soon 
as  possible,  of  withdrawing  his  wife  from  a  little  circle 
among  whom  they  had  been  talking,  to  a  more  retired 
corner  of  the  room.  She  saw  at  once  that  something  had 
happened  to  disturb  him. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  don't  look  behind  now  —  " 


i8o     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  recognized  him  at  once,"  she  interrupted.  "  It  is 
the  Marquis  de  Sogrange." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  It  will  be  best  for  you,"  he  said,  "  not  to  notice  him. 
Of  course,  his  presence  here  may  be  accidental.  He  has  a 
perfect  right  to  enter  any  society  he  chooses.  At  the  same 
time,  I  am  uneasy."' 

She  understood  in  a  moment. 

"  The  Clenarvon  diamonds !  "  she  whispered. 

He  nodded. 

"  It  is  just  the  sort  of  affair  which  would  appeal  to 
the  '  Double-Four,'  "  he  said.  "  They  are  worth  anything 
up  to  a  quarter  of  a  million,  and  it  is  an  enterprise  which 
could  scarcely  be  attempted  except  by  some  one  in  a 
peculiar  position.  Violet,  if  I  were  not  sure  that  he  had 
seen  me,  I  should  leave  the  house  this  minute." 

"  Why  ?  "   she  asked,  wonderingly. 

"  Don't  you  understand,"  Peter  Ruff  continued,  softly, 
"  that  I  myself  am  still  what  they  call  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  '  Double-Four,'  and  they  have  a  right  to 
appeal  to  me  for  help  in  this  country,  as  I  have  a  right  to 
appeal  to  them  for  help  or  information  in  France?  We 
have  both  made  use  of  one  another,  to  some  extent.  No 
doubt,  if  the  Marquis  has  any  scheme  in  his  mind,  he  would 
look  upon  me  as  a  valuable  ally." 

She  turned  slowly  pale. 

"  Peter,"  she  said,  "  you  would  n't  dream  —  you 
wouldn't  dare  to  be  so  foolish .f*" 

He  shook  his  head  firmly. 

"  My  dear  girl,"  he  said,  "  we  talked  that  all  out  long 
ago.  A  few  years  since,  I  felt  that  I  had  been  treated 
badly,  that  I  was  an  alien,  and  that  the  hand  of  the  law 
was  against  me.  I  talked  wildly  then,  perhaps.  When  I 
put  up  my  sign  and  sat  down  for  clients,  I  meant  to  cheat 


WONDERFUL    JOHN    DORY  i8i 

the  law,  if  I  could.  Things  have  changed,  Violet.  I 
want  nothing  of  that  sort.  I  have  kept  my  hands  clean 
and  I  mean  to  3o  so.  Why,  years  ago,"  he  continued, 
"  when  I  was  feeling  at  my  wildest,  these  very  jewels  were 
within  my  grasp  one  foggy  night,  and  I  never  touched 
them." 

"  What  would  happen  if  you  refused  to  help  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  know,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  The  condi- 
tions are  a  little  severe.  But,  after  all,  there  are  no  hard 
and  fast  rules.  It  rests  with  the  iMarquis  himself  to  shrug 
his  shoulders  and  appreciate  my  position.  Perhaps  he  may 
not  even  exchange  a  word  with  me.  Here  is  Lord  Sotherst 
coming  to  talk  to  you,  and  Captain  Hamilton  is  waiting 
for  me  to  tell  him  an  address.  Remember,  don't  recognize 
Sogrange." 

Dinner  that  night  was  an  unusually  cheerful  meal.  Peter 
Ruff,  who  was  an  excellent  raconteur,  told  many  stories. 
The  Marquis  de  Sogrange  was  perhaps  the  next  successful 
in  his  efforts  to  entertain  his  neighbors.  Violet  found  him 
upon  her  left  hand,  and  although  he  showed  not  the 
slightest  signs  of  having  ever  seen  her  before,  they  were 
very  soon  excellent  friends.  After  dinner,  Sogrange  and 
Peter  Ruff  drifted  together  on  their  way  to  the  billiard- 
room.  Sogrange,  however,  continued  to  talk  courteously 
of  trifles  until,  having  decided  to  watch  the  first  game,  they 
found  themselves  alone  on  the  leather  divan  surrounding 
the  room. 

"  This  is  an  unexpected  pleasure,  my  friend,"  Sogrange 
said,  watching  the  ash  of  his  cigar.     "  Professional?  " 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head.  "  Not  in  the  least,"  he  an- 
swered. "  I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  render  Lady 
Mary  and  her  brother,  at  different  times,  services  which 
they  are  pleased  to  value  highly.  We  are  here  as  ordi- 
nary guests  —  my  wife  and  I." 


i82    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

The  Marquis  sighed. 

"Ah,  that  wife  of  yours,  Ruff!"  he  said.  "She  is 
charming,  I  admit,  and  you  are  a  lucky  man ;  but  it  was  a 
price  —  a  very  great  price  to  pay." 

"  You,  perhaps,  are  ambitious,  Marquis,"  Peter  Ruff 
answered.  "  I  have  not  done  so  badly.  A  little  contents 
me." 

Sogrange  looked  at  him  as  though  he  were  some  strange 
creature. 

"  I  see !  "  he  murmured.  "  I  see !  With  you,  of  course, 
the  commercial  side  comes  uppermost.  Mr.  Ruff,  what  do 
you  suppose  the  income  from  my  estate  amounts  to.^" 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head.  He  did  not  even  know  that 
the  Marquis  was  possessed  of  estates ! 

"  Somewhere  about  seven  millions  of  francs,"  Sogrange 
declared.  "  There  are  few  men  in  Paris  more  extrava- 
gant than  I,  and  I  think  that  we  Frenchmen  know  what 
extravagance  means.  But  I  cannot  spend  my  income. 
Do  you  think  that  it  is  for  the  sake  of  gain  that  I  have 
come  across  the  Channel  to  add  the  Clenarvon  diamonds 
to   our   coffers?  " 

Peter  Ruff  sat  very  still. 

"  You  mean  that.'^  "  he  said. 

"  Of  course !  "  Sogrange  answered.  "  Did  n't  you  realize 
it  directly  you  saw  me.'^  What  is  there,  do  you  think,  in 
a  dull  English  house-party  to  attract  a  man  like  myself?, 
Don't  you  understand  that  it  is  the  gambler's  instinct  — 
the  restless  desire  to  be  playing  pitch-and-toss  with  fate, 
with  honor,  with  life  and  death,  if  you  will  —  that  brings 
such  as  myself  into  the  ranks  of  the  '  Double-Four  '?  It 
is  the  weariness  which  kills,  Peter  Ruff.  One  must  needs 
keep  it  from  one's  bones." 

"  Marquis,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  "  I  do  not  profess  to 
understand  you.     I  am  not  weary  of  life,  in  fact  I  love  it. 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  183 

I  am  looking  forward  to  the  years  when  I  have  enough 
money  —  and  it  seems  as  though  that  time  is  not  far  off 
—  when  I  can  buy  a  little  place  in  the  country,  and  hunt 
a  little  and  shoot  a  little,  and  live  a  simple  out-of-door 
life.  You  see,  Marquis,  we  are  as  far  removed  as  the 
poles." 

"  Obviously !  "  Sogrange  answered. 

"  Your  confidence,"  Peter  Ruff  continued,  "  the  confi- 
dence with  which  you  have  honored  me,  inspires  me  to 
make  you  one  request.  I  am  here,  indeed,  as  a  friend  of 
the  family.  You  will  not  ask  me  to  help  in  any  designs 
you  may  have  against  the  Clenarvon  jewels?  " 

Sogrange  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and  laughed  softly. 
His  lips,  when  they  parted  from  his  white  teeth,  resolved 
themselves  into  lines  which  at  that  moment  seemed  to  Peter 
Ruff  more  menacing  than  mirthful.  Sogrange  was,  in 
many  ways,  a  man  of  remarkable  appearance. 

"  Oh,  Peter  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  you  are  a  bourgeois  little 
person !  You  should  have  been  the  burgomaster  in  a  little 
German  town,  or  a  French  mayor  with  a  chain  about  your 
neck.  We  will  see.  I  make  no  promises.  All  that  I  insist 
upon,  for  the  present,  is  that  you  do  not  leave  this  house- 
party  without  advising  me  —  that  is  to  say,  if  you  are 
really  looking  forward  to  that  pleasant  hfe  in  the  country, 
where  you  will  hunt  a  little  and  shoot  a  little,  and  grow 
into  the  likeness  of  a  vegetable.  You,  with  your  charm- 
ing wife!  Peter  Ruff,  you  should  be  ashamed  to  talk  like 
that!  Come,  I  must  play  bridge  with  the  Countess.  I  am 
engaged  for  a  table." 

The  two  men  parted.  Peter  Ruff  was  uneasy.  On  his 
way  from  the  room.  Lord  Sotherst  insisted  upon  his  join- 
ing a  pool. 

"  Charming  fellow,  Sogrange,"  the  latter  remarked,  as 
he  chalked  his  cue.     "  He  has  been  a  great  friend  of  the 


i84    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

governor's  —  he  and  his  father  before  hhn.  Our  famihes 
have  intermarried  once  or  twice." 

"  He  seems  very  agreeable,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  de- 
voting himself  to  the  game. 

The  following  night,  being  the  last  but  one  before 
the  wedding  itself,  a  large  dinner-party  had  been  arranged 
for,  and  the  resources  of  even  so  princely  a  mansion  as 
Clenarvon  Court  were  strained  to  their  utmost  by  the  en- 
tertainment of  something  like  one  hundred  guests  in  the 
great  banqueting-hall.  The  meal  was  about  half-way 
through  when  those  who  were  not  too  entirely  engrossed 
in  conversation  were  startled  by  hearing  a  dull,  rumbling 
sound,  like  the  moving  of  a  number  of  pieces  of  heavy 
furniture.  People  looked  doubtfully  at  one  another. 
Peter  Ruff  and  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange  were  among 
the  first  to  spring  to  their  feet. 

"  It 's  an  explosion  somewhere,"  the  latter  cried. 
"  Sounds  close  at  hand,  too." 

They  made  their  way  out  into  the  hall.  Exactly  oppo- 
site now  was  the  room  in  which  the  wedding  presents  had 
been  placed,  and  where  for  days  nothing  had  been  seen 
but  a  closed  door  and  a  man  on  duty  outside.  The  door 
now  stood  wide  open,  and  in  place  of  the  single  electric 
light  which  was  left  burning  through  the  evening,  the 
place  seemed  almost  aflame. 

Ruff,  Sogrange  and  Lord  Sotherst  were  the  first  three 
to  cross  the  threshold.  They  were  met  by  a  rush  of  cold 
wind.  Opposite  to  them,  two  of  the  windows,  with  their 
boardings,  had  been  blown  away.  Sergeant  Saunders  was 
still  sitting  in  his  usual  place  at  the  end  of  the  table,  his 
head  bent  upon  his  folded  arms.  The  man  who  had  been 
on  duty  outside  was  standing  over  him,  white  with  horror. 
Far  away  in  the  distance,  down  the  park,  one  could  faintly 
hear  the  throbbing  of  an  engine,  and  Peter  Ruff,  through 


WONDERFUL    JOHN    DORY  185 

the  chasm,  saw  the  lights  of  a  great  motor-car  flashing  in 
and  out  amongst  the  trees.  The  room  itself  —  the  whole 
gHttering  array  of  presents  —  seemed  untouched.  Only 
the  great  center-piece  —  the  Clenarvon  diamonds  —  had 
gone.  Even  as  they  stood  there,  the  rest  of  the  guests 
crowding  into  the  open  door,  John  Dory  tore  through, 
his  face  white  with  excitement.  Peter  Ruff's  calm  voice 
penetrated  the  din  of  tongues. 

"  Lord  Sotherst,"  he  said,  "  you  have  telephones  in 
the  keepers'  lodges.  There  is  a  motor-car  being  driven 
southwards  at  full  speed.  Telephone  down,  and  have  your 
gates  secured.  Dory,  I  should  keep  every  one  out  of  the 
room.  Some  one  must  telephone  for  a  doctor.  I  suppose 
your  man  has  been  hurt." 

The  guests  were  wild  with  curiosity,  but  Lord  Clenarvon, 
with  an  insistent  gesture,  led  the  way  back  to  the  dining- 
room. 

"  Whatever  has  happened,"  he  said,  "  the  people  who 
are  in  charge  there  know  best  how  to  deal  with  the  situ- 
ation. There  is  a  detective  from  Scotland  Yard  and  his 
subordinates,  and  a  gentleman  in  whom  I  also  have  most 
implicit  confidence.  We  will  resume  our  dinner,  if  you 
please,  ladies  and  gentlemen." 

Unwillingly,  the  people  were  led  away.  John  Dory 
was  already  in  his  great-coat,  ready  to  spring  into  the 
powerful  motor-car  which  had  been  ordered  out  from  the 
garage.  A  doctor,  who  had  been  among  the  guests, 
was  examining  the  man  Saunders,  who  sat  in  that  still, 
unnatural  position  at  the  head  of  the  table. 

"  The  poor  fellow  has  been  shot  in  the  back  of  the  head 
with  some  peculiar  implement,"  he  said.  "  The  bullet  is 
very  long  —  almost  like  a  needle  —  and  it  seems  to  have 
penetrated  very  nearly  to  the  base  of  the  brain." 

"  Is  he  dead?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 


i86    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

The  doctor  shook  his  head. 

"  No !  "  he  answered.  "  An  inch  higher  up  and  he  must 
have  died  at  once.  I  want  some  of  the  men-servants  to 
help  me  carry  him  to  a  bedroom,  and  plenty  of  hot  water. 
Some  one  else  must  go  for  my  instrument  case." 

Lord  Sotherst  took  these  things  in  charge,  and  John 
Dory  turned  to  the  man  whom  they  had  found  standing 
over  him. 

"  Tell  us  exactly  what  happened,"  he  said,  briefly. 

"  I  was  standing  outside  the  door,"  the  man  answered. 
"  I  heard  no  sound  inside  —  there  was  nothing  to  excite 
suspicion  in  any  way.  Suddenly  there  was  this  explosion. 
It  took  me,  perhaps,  thirty  or  forty  seconds  to  get  the 
key  out  of  my  pocket  and  unlock  the  door.  When  I 
entered,  the  side  of  the  room  was  blown  in  like  that,  the 
diamonds  were  gone,  Saunders  was  leaning  forward  just 
in  the  position  he  is  in  now,  and  there  was  n't  another  soul 
in  sight.     Then  you  and  the  others  came." 

John  Dory  rushed  from  the  room ;  they  had  brought 
him  word  that  the  car  was  waiting.  At  such  a  moment, 
he  was  ready  even  to  forget  his  ancient  enmity.  He 
turned  towards  Peter  Ruff,  whose  calm  bearing  somehow  or 
other  impressed  even  the  detective  with  a  sense  of  power. 

"  Will  you  come  along?  "  he  asked. 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  Thank  you.  Dory,  no !  "  he  said.  "  I  am  glad  you 
have  asked  me,  but  I  think  you  had  better  go  alone." 

A  few  seconds  later,  the  pursuit  was  started.  Saunders 
was  carried  out  of  the  room,  followed  by  the  doctor. 
There  remained  only  Peter  Ruff  and  the  man  who  had 
been  on  duty  outside.  Peter  Ruff  seated  himself  where 
Saunders  had  been  sitting,  and  seemed  to  be  closely  ex- 
amining the  table  all  round  for  some  moments.  Once  he 
took  up  something  from  between  the  pages  of  the  book 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  187 

which  the  Sergeant  had  apparently  been  reading,  and 
put  it  carefully  into  his  own  pocketbook.  Then  he  leaned 
back  in  the  chair,  with  his  hands  clasped  behind  his  head 
and  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  ceiling,  as  though  thinking 
intently. 

"  Hastings,"  he  said  to  the  policeman,  who  all  the  time 
was  pursuing  a  stream  of  garrulous,  inconsequent  remarks, 
"  I  wonder  whether  you  'd  step  outside  and  see  Mr.  Rich- 
ards, the  butler.  Ask  him  if  he  would  be  so  good  as  to 
spare  me  a  moment." 

"  I  '11  do  it,  sir,"  the  man  answered,  with  one  more 
glance  through  the  open  space.  "  Lord ! "  he  added, 
"  they  must  have  been  in  through  there  and  out  again 
like  cats !  " 

"  It  was  quick  work,  certainly,"  Peter  Ruff  answered, 
genially,  "  but  then,  an  enterprise  like  this  would,  of 
course,  only  be  attempted  by  experts." 

Peter  Ruff  was  not  left  alone  long.  Mr.  Richards  came 
hurrying  in, 

"  This  is  a  terrible  business,  sir !  "  he  said.  "  His  lord- 
ship has  excused  me  from  superintending  the  service  of 
the  dinner.  Anything  that  I  can  do  for  you  I  am  to  give 
my  whole  attention  to.     These  were  my  orders." 

"  Very  good  of  you,  Richards,"  Peter  Ruff  answered, 
"  very  thoughtful  of  his  lordship.  In  the  first  place,  then, 
I  think,  we  will  have  the  rest  of  this  jewelry  packed  in 
cases  at  once.  Not  that  anything  further  is  likely  to 
happen,"  he  continued,  "  but  still,  it  would  be  just  as  well 
out  of  the  way.  I  will  remain  here  and  superintend  this, 
if  you  will  send  a  couple  of  careful  servants.  In  the  mean- 
time, I  want  you  to  do  something  else  for  me." 

"  Certainly,  sir,"  the  man  answered. 

"  I  want  a  plan  of  the  house,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  with 
the  names  of  the  guests  who  occupy  this  wing." 


i88     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

The  butler  nodded  gravely. 

"  I  can  supply  you  with  it  very  shortly,  sir,"  he  said. 
"  There  is  no  difficulty  at  all  about  the  plan,  as  I  have 
several  in  my  room ;  but  it  will  take  me  some  minutes  to 
pencil  in  the  names." 

Peter  Ruff  nodded. 

"  I  will  superintend  things  here  until  you  return,"  he 
said. 

"  It  is  to  be  hoped,  sir,"  the  man  said,  as  he  retreated, 
"  that  the  gentleman  from  Scotland  Yard  will  catch  the 
thieves.  After  all,  they  had  n't  more  than  ten  minutes' 
start,  and  our  Daimler  is  a  flyer." 

"  I  'm  sure  I  hope  so,"  Peter  Ruff  answered,  heartily. 

But,  alas !  no  such  fortune  was  in  store  for  Mr.  John 
Dory.  At  daybreak  he  returned  in  a  borrowed  trap  from 
a  neighboring  railway  station. 

"  Our  tires  had  been  cut,"  he  said,  in  reply  to  a  storm  of 
questions.  "  They  began  to  go,  one  after  the  other,  as 
soon  as  we  had  any  speed  on.  We  traced  the  car  to  Salis- 
bury, and  there  is  n't  a  village  within  forty  miles  that  is  n't 
looking  out  for  it." 

Peter  Ruff,  who  had  just  returned  from  an  early  morn- 
ing walk,  nodded  sympathetically. 

"  Shall  you  be  here  all  day,  Mr.  Dory.'*  "  he  asked. 
^'  There  's  just  a  word  or  two  I  should  like  to  have  with 
you." 

Dory  turned  away.  He  had  forced  himself,  in  the  ex- 
citement of  the  moment,  to  speak  to  his  ancient  enemy,  but 
in  this  hour  of  his  humility  the  man's  presence  was 
distasteful  to  him. 

"  I  am  not  sure,"  he  said,  shortly.  "  It  depends  on  how 
things  may  turn  out." 

The  daily  life  at  Clenarvon  Court  proceeded  exactly  as 
usual.     Breakfast  was   served  early,  as  there   was   to  be 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  189 

a  big  day's  shoot.  The  Marquis  de  Sogrange  and  Peter 
Ruff  smoked  their  cigarettes  together  afterwards  in  the 
great  hall.  Then  it  was  that  Peter  Ruff  took  the 
plunge. 

"  Marquis,"  he  said,  "  I  should  like  to  know  exactly  how 
I  stand  with  you  —  the  '  Double-Four,'  that  is  to  say  — 
supposing  I  range  myself  for  an  hour  or  so  on  the  side  of 
the  law?  " 

Sogrange  smiled. 

"  You  amuse  yourself,  Mr.  Ruff,"  he  remarked  genially. 

"  Not  in  the  least,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  I  am 
serious." 

Sogrange  watched  the  blue  cigarette  smoke  come  down 
his  nose. 

"  My  dear  friend,"  he  said,  "  I  am  no  amateur  at  this 
game.  When  I  choose  to  play  it,  I  am  not  afraid  of  Scot- 
land Yard.  I  am  not  afraid,"  he  concluded,  with  a  little 
bow,  "  even  of  you !  " 

"  Do  you  ever  bet.  Marquis  ?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  Twenty-five  thousand  francs,"  Sogrange  said,  smiling, 
"  that  your  efforts  to  aid  Mr.  John  Dory  are  unavailing." 

Peter  Ruff  entered  the  amount  in  his  pocket-book. 

"  It  is  a  bargain,"  he  declared.  "  Our  bet,  I  presume^ 
carries  immunity  for  me?  " 

"  By  all  means,"  Sogrange  answered,  with  a  little  bow. 

The  Marquis  beckoned  to  Lord  Sotherst,  who  was 
crossing  the  hall. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  he  said,  "  do  tell  me  the  name  of 
your  hatter  in  London.  Delions  failed  me  at  the  last 
moment,  and  I  have  not  a  hat  fit  for  the  ceremony 
to-morrow." 

"  I  '11  lend  you  half-a-dozen,  if  you  can  wear  them," 
Lord  Sotherst  answered,  smiling.  "  The  governor  's  sure 
to  have  plenty,  too." 


igo    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Sogrange  touched  his  head  with  a  smile. 

"  Alas !  "  he  said.  "  My  head  is  small,  even  for  a 
Frenchman's.  Imagine  me  —  otherwise,  I  trust,  suitably 
attired  —  walking  to  the  church  to-morrow  in  a  hat  which 
came  to  my  ears  !  " 

Lord  Sotherst  laughed. 

"  Scotts  will  do  you  all  right,"  he  said.  "  You  can 
telephone." 

"  I  shall  send  my  man  up,"  Sogrange  determined.  "  He 
can  bring  me  back  a  selection.  Tell  me,  at  what  hour  is 
the  first  drive  this  morning,  and  are  the  places  drawn 
yet.?" 

"  Come  into  the  gun-room  and  we  '11  see,"  Lord  Sotherst 
answered. 

Peter  Ruff  made  his  way  to  the  back  quarters  of  the 
house.  In  a  little  sitting-room  he  found  the  man  he 
sought,  sitting  alone.  Peter  Ruff  closed  the  door  behind 
him. 

"  John  Dory,"  he  said,  "  I  have  come  to  have  a  few 
words  with  you." 

The  detective  rose  to  his  feet.  He  was  in  no  pleasant 
mood.  Though  the  telephone  wires  had  been  flashing 
their  news  every  few  minutes,  it  seemed,  indeed,  as  though 
the  car  which  they  had  chased  had  vanished  into  space. 

"  What  do  you  want  to  say  to  me.'*  "  he  asked  gruffly. 

"  I  want,  if  I  can,"  Peter  Ruff  said  earnestly,  "  to  do 
you  a  service." 

Dory's   eyes   glittered. 

"  I  think,"  he  said,  "  that  I  can  do  without  your  services." 

"  Don't  be  foolish,"  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  You  are  harbor- 
ing a  grievance  against  me  which  is  purely  an  imaginary 
one.  Now  listen  to  the  facts.  You  employ  your  wife  — 
which  after  all.  Dory,  I  think,  was  not  quite  the  straight 
thing  —  to  try    and    track    down    a    young    man    named 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  191 

Spencer  Fitzgerald,  who  was  formerly,  in  a  small  way,  a 
client  of  mine.  I  find  your  wife  an  agreeable  companion 
—  we  become  friends.  Then  I  discover  her  object,  and 
know  that  I  am  being  fooled.  The  end  of  that  little  epi- 
sode you  remember.  But  tell  me  why  should  you  bear  me 
ill-will  for  defending  my  friend  and  myself?  " 

The  detective  came  slowly  up  to  Peter  Ruff.  He  took 
hold  of  the  lapel  of  the  other's  coat  with  his  left  hand,  and 
his  right  hand  was  clenched.  But  Peter  Ruff  did  not 
falter. 

"  Listen  to  me,"  said  Dory.  "  I  will  tell  you  what 
grudge  I  bear  against  you.  It  was  your  entertainment  of 
my  wife  which  gave  her  the  taste  for  luxury  and  for  gad- 
ding about.  Mind,  I  don't  blame  you  for  that  altogether, 
but  there  the  fact  remains.  She  left  me.  She  went  on  the 
stage." 

"  Stop ! "  Peter  Ruff  said.  "  You  must  still  hold  me 
blameless.  She  wrote  to  me.  I  went  out  with  her  once. 
The  only  advice  I  gave  her  was  to  return  to  you.  So  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  I  have  treated  her  with  the  respect  that 
I  would  have  shown  my  own  sister." 

"  You  lie !  "  Dory  cried,  fiercely.  "  A  month  ago,  I 
saw  her  come  to  your  flat.  I  watched  for  hours.  She  did 
not  leave  it  —  she  did  not  leave  it  all  that  night !  " 

"  If  you  object  to  her  visit,"  Peter  Ruff  said  quietly, 
"  it  is  my  wife  whom  you  must  blame." 

John  Dory  relaxed  his  hand  and  took  a  quick  step 
backwards. 

"  Your  wife.'*  "  he  muttered. 

"  Exactly  !  "  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  Maud  —  Mrs. 
Dory  —  called  to  see  me ;  she  was  ill  —  she  had  lost  her 
situation  —  she  was  even,  I  believe,  faint  and  hungry.  I 
was  not  present.  My  wife  talked  to  her  and  was  sorry  for 
her.    While  the  two  women  were  there  together,  your  wife 


192     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

fainted.  She  was  put  to  bed  in  our  one  spare  room,  and 
she  has  been  shown  every  attention  and  care.  Tell  me, 
how  long  is  it  since  you  were  at  home?  " 

"  Not  for  ten  days,"  Dory  answered,  bitterly.    "  Why  ?  " 

"  Because  when  you  go  back,  you  will  find  your  wife 
there,"  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  She  has  given  up  the  stage. 
Her  one  desire  is  to  settle  down  and  repay  you  for  the 
trouble  she  has  caused  you.  You  need  n't  believe  me 
unless  you  like.  Ask  my  wife.  She  is  here.  She  will  tell 
you." 

Dory  was  overcome.  He  went  back  to  his  seat  by  the 
window,  and  he  buried  his  face  for  a  moment  in  his  hands. 

"  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  I  don't  deserve  this.  I  've  had  bad 
times  lately,  though.  Everything  has  gone  against  me. 
I  think  I  have  been  a  bit  careless,  with  the  troubles  at 
home  and  that." 

"  Stop !  "  Peter  Ruff  insisted.  "  Now  I  come  to  the  im- 
mediate object  of  my  visit  to  you.  You  have  had  some 
bad  luck  at  headquarters.  I  know  of  it.  I  am  going  to 
help  you  to  reinstate  yourself  brilliantly.  With  that,  let 
us  shake  hands  and  bury  all  the  soreness  that  there  may 
be  between  us." 

John  Dory  stared  at  his  visitor. 

"  Do  you  mean  this  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  do,"  answered  Peter.  "  Please  do  not  think  that  I 
mean  to  make  any  reflection  upon  your  skill.  It  is  just 
a  chance  that  I  was  able  to  see  what  you  were  not  able  to 
see.  In  an  hour's  time,  you  shall  restore  the  Clenarvon 
diamonds  to  Lord  Clenarvon.  You  shall  take  the  reward 
which  he  has  just  offered,  of  a  thousand  pounds.  And  I 
promise  you  that  the  manner  in  which  you  shall  recover 
the  jewels  shall  be  such  that  you  will  be  famous  for  a  long 
time  to  come." 

"  You  are  a  wonderful  man !  "  said  Dory,  hoarsely.  "  Do 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  193 

you  mean,  then,  that  the  jewels  were  not  with  those  men  in 
the  motor-car?  " 

"  Of  course  not !  "  Peter  Ruff  answered.  "  But  come 
along.     The  story  will  develop." 

At  half-past  ten  that  morning,  a  motor-car  turned 
out  from  the  garage  at  Clenarvon  Court,  and  made  its 
way  down  the  avenue.  In  it  was  a  single  passenger  —  the 
dark-faced  Parisian  valet  of  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange. 
As  the  car  left  the  avenue  and  struck  into  the  main  road, 
it  was  hailed  by  Peter  Ruff  and  John  Dor}^,  who  were 
walking  together  along  the  lane, 

"  Say,  my  man,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  addressing  the  chauf- 
feur, "  are  you  going  to  the  station?  " 

"  Yes,  sir !  "  the  man  answered.  "  I  am  taking  down  the 
Marquis  de  Sogrange's  servant  to  catch  the  eleven  o'clock 
train  to  town." 

"You  don't  mind  giving  us  a  lift?"  Peter  Ruff  asked, 
already  opening  the  door. 

"  Certainly  not,  sir,"  the  man  answered,  touching  his 
hat. 

Peter  Ruff  and  John  Dory  stepped  into  the  tonneau  of 
the  car.  The  man  civilly  lifted  the  hatbox  from  the  seat, 
and  made  room  for  his  enforced  companions.  Neverthe- 
less, it  was  easy  to  see  that  he  was  not  pleased. 

"  There  's  plenty  of  room  here  for  three,"  Peter  Ruff 
said,  cheerfully,  as  they  sat  on  either  side  of  him.  "  Drive 
slowly,  please,  chauffeur.  Now,  Mr.  Lemprise,"  Peter  Ruff 
added,  "  we  will  trouble  you  to  change  places." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  the  man  called  out,  suddenly 
pale  as  death. 

He  was  held  as  though  in  a  vice.  John  Dory's  arm  was 
through  his  on  one  side,  and  Peter  Ruff's  on  the  other. 
Apart  from  that,  the  muzzle  of  a  revolver  was  pressed  to 
his  forehead. 


194    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  On  second  thoughts,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  I  think  we 
will  keep  you  like  this.  Driver,"  he  called  out,  "  please 
return  to  the  Court  at  once." 

The  man  hesitated. 

"  You  recognize  the  gentleman  who  is  with  me  ?  "  Peter 
Ruff  said.  "  He  is  the  detective  from  Scotland  Yard.  I 
have  full  authority  from  Lord  Clenarvon  over  all  his 
servants.     Please  do  as  I  say." 

The  man  hesitated  no  more.  The  car  was  backed  and 
turned,  the  Frenchman  struggling  all  the  way  like  a  wild 
cat.  Once  he  tried  to  kick  the  hatbox  into  the  road,  but 
John  Dory  was  too  quick  for  him.  So  they  drove  up  to 
the  front  door  of  the  Court,  to  be  welcomed  with  cries  of 
astonishment  from  the  whole  of  the  shooting  party,  who 
were  just  starting.  Foremost  among  them  was  So- 
grange.  They  crowded  around  the  car.  Peter  Ruff 
touched  the  hatbox  with  his  foot. 

"  If  we  could  trouble  your  Lordship,"  he  said,  "  to  open 
that  hatbox,  you  will  find  something  that  will  interest  you. 
Mr.  Dory  has  planned  a  little  surprise  for  you,  in  which  I 
have  been  permitted  to  help." 

The  women,  who  gathered  that  something  was  happen- 
ing, came  hastening  out  from  the  hall.  They  all  crowded 
round  Lord  Clenarvon,  who  was  cutting  through  the  leather 
strap  of  the  hatbox.  Inside  the  silk  hat  which  reposed 
there,  were  the  Clenarvon  diamonds.  Monsieur  le  Marquis 
de  Sogrange  was  one  of  the  foremost  to  give  vent  to  an 
exclamation  of  delight. 

"  Monsieur  le  Marquis,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  this  should 
be  a  lesson  to  you,  I  hope,  to  have  the  characters  of  your 
servants  more  rigidly  verified.  Mr.  Dory  tells  me  that  this 
man  came  into  your  employ  at  the  last  moment  with  a 
forged  recommendation.  He  is,  in  effect,  a  dangerous 
thief." 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  195 

"  You  amaze  me !  "  Sogrange  exclaimed. 

"  We  are  all  interested  in  this  affair,"  Peter  Ruff  said, 
*'  and  my  friend  John  Dory  here  is,  perhaps,  too  modest 
properly  to  explain  the  matter.  If  you  care  to  come 
with  me,  we  can  reconstruct,  in  a  minute,  the  theft." 

John  Dory  and  Peter  Ruff  first  of  all  handed  over  their 
captive,  who  was  now  calm  and  apparently  resigned,  to 
the  two  policemen  who  were  still  on  duty  in  the  Court. 
Afterwards,  Peter  Ruff  led  the  way  up  one  flight  of  stairs, 
and  turned  the  handle  of  the  door  of  an  apartment  exactly 
over  the  morning-room.  It  was  the  bedroom  of  the  Marquis 
de  Sogrange. 

"  Mr.  Dory's  chase  in  the  motor-car,"  he  said,  "  was,  as 
you  have  doubtless  gathered  now,  merely  a  blind.  It  was 
obvious  to  his  intelligence  that  the  blowing  away  of  the  win- 
dow was  merely  a  ruse  to  cover  the  real  method  of  the  theft. 
If  you  will  allow  me,  I  will  show  you  how  it  was  done." 

The  floor  was  of  hardwood,  covered  with  rugs.  One  of 
these,  near  the  fireplace,  Peter  Ruff  brushed  aside.  The 
seventh  square  of  hardwood  from  the  mantelpiece  had 
evidently  been  tampered  with.  With  very  little  difficulty, 
he  removed  it. 

*'  You  see,"  he  explained,  "  the  ceiling  of  the  room  be- 
low is  also  of  paneled  wood.  Having  removed  this,  it  is 
easy  to  lift  the  second  one,  especially  as  light  screws  have 
been  driven  in  and  string  threaded  about  them.  There  is 
now  a  hole  through  which  you  can  see  into  the  room 
below.    Has  Dory  returned?    Ah,  here  he  is !  " 

The  detective  came  hurrying  into  the  room,  bearing  in 
his  hand  a  peculiar-shaped  weapon,  a  handful  of  little 
darts  like  those  which  had  been  found  in  the  wounded  man's 
head,  and  an  ordinary  fishing-rod  in  a  linen  case. 

"  There  is  the  weapon,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  "  which  it  was 
easy  enough  to  fire  from  here  upon  the  man  who  was  leaning 


196     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

forward  exactly  below.  Then  here,  you  will  see,  is  a  some- 
what peculiar  instrument,  which  shows  a  great  deal  of 
ingenuity  in  its  details." 

He  opened  the  linen  case,  which  was,  by  the  bye,  se- 
cured by  a  padlock,  and  drew  out  what  was,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, an  ordinary  fishing-rod,  fitted  at  the  end  with 
something  that  looked  like  an  iron  hand.  Peter  Ruff 
dropped  it  through  the  hole  until  it  reached  the  table, 
moved  it  backwards  and  forwards,  and  turned  round  with 
a  smile. 

"  You  see,"  he  said,  "  the  theft,  after  all,  was  very 
simple.  Personally,  I  must  admit  that  it  took  me  a  great 
deal  by  surprise,  but  my  friend  Mr.  Dory  has  been  on  the 
right  track  from  the  first.  I  congratulate  him  most 
heartily." 

Dory  was  a  little  overcome.  Lady  Mary  shook  him 
heartily  by  the  hand,  but  as  they  trooped  downstairs  she 
stooped  and  whispered  in  Peter  Ruff's  ear. 

"  I  wonder  how  much  of  this  was  John  Dory,"  she  said, 
smiling. 

Peter  Ruff  said  nothing.  The  detective  was  already  on 
the  telephone,  wiring  his  report  to  London.  Every  one  was 
standing  about  in  little  knots,  discussing  this  wonderful 
event.  Sogrange  sought  Lord  Clenarvon,  and  walked  with 
him,  arm  in  arm,  down  the  stairs. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,  Clenarvon,"  he  said,  "  how  sorry  I 
am  that  I  should  have  been  the  means  of  introducing  a 
person  like  this  to  the  house.  I  had  the  most  excellent 
references  from  the  Prince  of  Strelitz.  No  doubt  they 
were  forged.  My  own  man  was  taken  ill  just  before  I  left, 
and  I  had  to  bring  some  one." 

"  My  dear  Sogrange,"  Lord  Clenarvon  said,  "  don't 
think  of  it.  What  we  must  be  thankful  for  is  that  we  had  so 
brilliant  a  detective  in  the  house." 


WONDERFUL   JOHN    DORY  197 

"  As  John  Dory?  "  Sogrange  remarked,  with  a  smile. 

Lord  Clenarvon  nodded. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "  I  don't  see  why  we  should  lose  a 
day's  sport  because  the  diamonds  have  been  recovered.  I 
always  felt  that  they  would  turn  up  again  some  day  or 
other.     You  are  keen,  I  know,  Sogrange." 

"  Rather !  "  the  Marquis  answered.  "  But  excuse  me 
for  one  moment.  There  is  Mrs.  Ruff  looking  charming 
there  in  the  corner.    I  must  have  just  a  word  with  her." 

He  crossed  the  room  and  bowed  before  Violet. 

"  My  dear  lady,"  he  said,  "  I  have  come  to  congratulate 
you.  You  have  a  clever  husband  —  a  little  cleverer,  even, 
than  /  thought.  I  have  just  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  to 
him  a  bet  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs." 

Violet  smiled,  a  little  uneasily. 

"  Peter  does  n't  gamble  as  a  rule,"  she  remarked. 

Sogrange  sighed. 

"  This,  alas,  was  no  gamble !  "  he  said.  "  He  was  bet- 
ting upon  certainties,  but  he  won.  Will  you  tell  him 
from  me,  when  you  see  him,  that  although  I  have  not  the 
money  in  my  pocket  at  the  moment,  I  shall  pay  my  debts. 
Tell  him  that  we  are  as  careful  to  do  that  in  France  as 
we  are  to  keep  our  word !  " 

He  bowed,  and  passed  out  with  the  shooting-party  on  to 
the  terrace.  Peter  Ruff  came  up,  a  few  minutes  later,  and 
his  wife  gave  him  the  message. 

"  I  did  that  man  an  injustice,"  Peter  Ruff  said  with  a 
sigh  of  relief.  "  I  can't  explain  now,  dear.  I  '11  tell  you 
all  about  it  later  in  the  day." 

"There's  nothing  wrong,  is  there.'"'  she  asked  him, 
pleadingly. 

"  On  the  contrary,"  Peter  Ruff  declared,  "  everything 
is  right.  I  have  made  friends  with  Dory,  and  I  have  won  a 
thousand  pound.     When  we  leave  here,  I  am  going  to  look 


198    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

out  for  that  little  estate  in  the  country.  If  you  come  out 
with  the  lunch,  dear,  I  want  you  to  watch  that  man 
Hamilton's  coat.  It 's  exactly  what  I  should  like  to  wear 
myself  at  my  own  shooting  parties.  See  if  you  can  make 
a  sketch  of  it  when  he  is  n't  looking." 

Violet  laughed. 

"  I  '11  try,"  she  promised. 


BOOK    TWO 
CHAPTER    I 

KECALLED    BY    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

It  is  the  desire  of  Madame  that  you  should  join  our  circle  here 
on  Thursday  evening  next  at  ten  o'clock.  Sogrange. 

The  man  looked  up  from  the  sheet  of  note-paper  which 
he  held  in  his  hand,  and  gazed  through  the  open  French- 
windows  before  which  he  was  standing.  It  was  a  very 
pleasant  and  very  peaceful  prospect.  There  was  his 
croquet  lawn,  smooth-shaven,  the  hoops  neatly  arranged, 
the  chalk-mark  firm  and  distinct  upon  the  boundary.  Be- 
yond, the  tennis  court,  the  flower  gardens,  and,  to  the  left, 
the  walled  fruit  garden.  A  little  farther  away  was  the' 
paddock  and  orchard,  and  a  little  farther  still,  the  farm, 
which  for  the  last  four  years  had  been  the  joy  of  his  life. 
His  meadows  were  yellow  with  buttercups ;  a  thin  line 
of  willows  showed  where  the  brook  wound  its  lazy 
way  through  the  bottom  fields.  It  was  a  home,  this,  in 
which  a  man  could  well  lead  a  peaceful  life,  could  dream 
away  his  days  to  the  music  of  the  west  wind,  the  gurgling 
stream,  the  song  of  birds,  and  the  low  murmuring  of  insects. 
Peter  Ruff  stood  like  a  man  turned  to  stone,  for,  even  as 
he  looked,  these  things  passed  away  from  before  his  eyes, 
the  roar  of  the  world  beat  in  his  ears  —  the  world  of  in- 
trigue, of  crime,  the  world  where  the  strong  man  hewed 


200     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

his  way  to  power,  and  the  weaklings  fell  like  corn  before 
the  sickle. 

"  It  is  the  desire  of  Madame!  " 

Peter  Ruff  clenched  his  fists  as  he  stood  there.  It  was  a 
message  from  a  world  every  memory  of  which  had  been  de- 
liberately crushed,  a  world,  indeed,  in  which  he  had  seemed 
no  longer  to  hold  any  place.  Scarcely  yet  of  middle  age, 
well-preserved,  upright,  with  neat  figure  dressed  in  the 
conventional  tweeds  and  gaiters  of  an  English  country 
gentleman,  he  not  only  had  loved  his  life,  but  he  looked 
the  part.  He  was  Peter  Ruff,  Esquire,  of  Aynesford 
Manor,  in  the  county  of  Somerset.  It  could  not  be  for 
him,  this  strange  summons. 

The  rustle  of  a  woman's  soft  draperies  broke  in  upon 
his  reverie.  He  turned  around  with  his  usual  morning 
greeting  upon  his  lips.  If  country  life  had  agreed  with 
Peter  Ruff,  it  had  transformed  his  wife.  Her  cheeks 
were  no  longer  pale;  the  extreme  slimness  of  her  figure 
was  no  longer  apparent.  She  was  just  a  little  more 
matronly,  perhaps,  but  without  doubt  a  most  beautiful 
woman.  She  came  smiling  across  the  room  —  a  dream 
of  white  muslin  and  pink  ribbons. 

"Another  forage  bill,  my  dear  Peter?  "  she  demanded, 
passing  her  arm  through  his.  "  Put  it  away  and  admire 
my  new  morning  gown.  It  came  straight  from  Paris,  and 
you  will  have  to  pay  a  great  deal  of  money  for  it." 

He  pulled  himself  together  —  he  had  no  secrets  from 
his  wife. 

"  Listen,"  he  said,  and  read  aloud : 

Rue  de  St.  Quintaine, 
Paris. 
Dear  Mr.  Ruff, 

It  is  a  long  time  since  we  had  the  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  you. 
It  is  the  desire  of  Madame  that  you  should  join  our  circle  here  on 
Thursdav  evenhijr  next  at  ten  o'clock.  Sograngc. 


RECALLED    BY   THE    DOUBLE-FOUR      201 

Violet  was  a  little  perplexed.  She  failed,  somehow,  to 
recognize  the  sinister  note  underlying  those  few  sentences. 

"  It  sounds  friendly  enough,"  she  remarked.  "  You 
are    not    obliged   to    go,    of    course." 

Peter  Ruff  smiled  grimly. 

"  Yes,  it  sounds  all  right,"  he  admitted. 

"  They  won't  expect  you  to  take  any  notice  of  it, 
surely  ?  "  she  continued.  "  When  you  bought  this  place, 
Peter,  and  left  your  London  offices,  you  gave  them  defi- 
nitely to  understand  that  you  had  retired  into  private 
life,  that  all  these  things  were  finished  with  you." 

"  There  are  some  things,"  Peter  Ruff  said,  slowly, 
*'  which  are  never  finished." 

"  But  you  resigned,"  she  reminded  him.  "  I  remember 
your  letter  distinctly." 

"  From  the  Double-Four,"  he  answered,  "  no  resignation 
is  recognized  save  death.  I  did  what  I  could  and  they 
accepted  my  explanations,  gracefully  and  without  comment. 
Now  that  the  time  has  come,  however,  when  they  think  they 
need  my  help,  you  see  they  do  not  hesitate  to  claim  it." 

"  You  will  not  go,  Peter.''  You  will  not  think  of  going.''  " 
she  begged. 

He  twisted  the  letter  between  his  fingers  and  sat  down 
to  his  breakfast. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  not  go." 

That  morning  Peter  Ruff  spent  upon  his  farm,  looking 
over  his  stock,  examining  some  new  machinery,  and  talking 
crops  with  his  bailiff.  In  the  afternoon  he  played  his  cus- 
tomary round  of  golf.  It  was  the  sort  of  day  which,  as  a 
rule,  he  found  completely  satisfactory,  yet,  somehow  or 
other,  a  certain  sense  of  weariness  crept  in  upon  him 
toward  its  close. 

Two  days  later  he  received  another  letter.  This  time 
it  was  couched  in  different  terms.    On  a  square  card,  at  the 


202     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

top   of  which  was  stamped  a  small   coronet,  he   read   as 
follows : 

Madame  de  Maupassim  at  home,  Saturday  evening,  May  2nd, 
at  ten  o'clock. 

In  small  letters  at  the  bottom  left-hand  corner  were 
added  the  words: 

To  meet  friends. 

Peter  Ruff  put  the  card  upon  the  fire  and  went  out  for 
a  morning's  rabbit  shooting  with  his  keeper.  When  he 
returned  luncheon  was  ready,  but  Violet  was  absent.  He 
rang  the  bell. 

"  Where  is  your  mistress,  Jane.''  "  he  asked  the  parlor- 
maid. 

The  girl  had  no  idea.  Mrs.  Ruff  had  left  for  the  village 
several  hours  before ;  since  then  she  had  not  been  seen. 
Peter  Ruff  ate  his  luncheon  alone,  and  understood.  The 
afternoon  wore  on,  and  at  night  he  traveled  up  to  London. 
He  knew  better  than  to  waste  time  by  purposeless  inquiries. 
Instead  he  took  the  nine  o'clock  train  the  next  morning  to 
Paris. 

It  was  a  chamber  of  death  into  which  he  was  ushered, 
dismal  —  yet,  of  its  sort,  unique,  marvelous.  The  room 
itself  might  have  been  the  sleeping  apartment  of  an  empress 
—  lofty,  with  white  paneled  walls,  adorned  simply  with 
gilded  lines ;  with  high  windows,  closely  curtained  now, 
so  that  neither  sound  nor  the  light  of  day  might  penetrate 
into  the  room.  In  the  middle  of  the  apartment  upon  a 
canopy  bedside,  which  had  once  adorned  a  king's  palace, 
lay  Madame  de  Maupassim.  Her  face  was  already  touched 
with  the  finger  of  death,  yet  her  eyes  were  undimmed  and 
her  lips  unquivering.  Her  hands,  covered  with  rings,  lay 
out  before  her  upon  the  lace  coverlid.     Supported  by  many 


RECALLED    BY    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR      203 

pillows,  she  was  issuing  her  last  instructions  with  the 
cold  precision  of  the  man  of  affairs  who  makes  the 
necessary  arrangements  for  a  few  days'  absence  from  his 
business. 

Peter  Ruff,  who  had  not  even  been  allowed  sufficient 
time  to  change  his  traveling  clothes,  was  brought  without 
hesitation  to  her  bedside.  She  looked  at  him  in  silence,  for 
a  moment,  with  a  cold  glitter  in  her  eyes. 

"  You  are  four  days  late.  Monsieur  Peter  Ruff,"  she 
remarked.     "  Why  did  you  not  obey  your  first  summons  ?  " 

"  Madame,"  he  answered,  "  I  thought  there  must  be  a 
misunderstanding.  Four  years  ago,  I  gave  notice  to  the 
council  that  I  had  married  and  retired  into  private  life. 
A  country  farmer  is  of  no  further  use  to  the  world." 

The  woman's  thin  lip  curled. 

"  From  death  and  the  Double-Four,"  she  said,  "  there  is 
no  resignation  which  counts.  You  are  as  much  our 
creature  to-day,  as  I  am  the  creature  of  the  disease  which 
is  carrying  me  across  the  threshold  of  death." 

Peter  Ruff  remained  silent.  The  woman's  words  seemed 
full  of  dread  significance.  Besides,  how  was  it  possible  to 
contradict  the  dying.'' 

"  It  is  upon  the  unwilling  of  the  world,"  she  continued, 
speaking  slowly,  yet  with  extraordinary  distinctness,  "  that 
its  greatest  honors  are  often  conferred.  The  name  of 
my  successor  has  been  balloted  for,  secretly.  It  is  you, 
Peter  Ruff,  who  have  been  chosen." 

This  time  he  was  silent  because  he  was  literally  bereft 
of  words.  This  woman  was  dying  and  fancying  strange 
things !  He  looked  from  one  to  the  other  of  the  stern, 
pale  faces  of  those  who  were  gathered  around  her  bedside. 
Seven  of  them  there  were  —  the  same  seven.  At  that  mo- 
ment their  eyes  were  all  focused  upon  him.  Peter  Ruff 
shrank  back. 


204     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Madame,"  he  murmured,  "  this  cannot  be." 

Her  lips  twitched  as  though  she  would  have  smiled. 

"  What  we  have  decided,"  she  said,  "  we  have  decided. 
Nothing  can  alter  that,  not  even  the  will  of  Mr.  Peter 
Ruff." 

"  I  have  been  out  of  the  world  for  four  years,"  Peter 
Ruff  protested.  "  I  have  no  longer  ambitions,  no  longer 
any  desire  —  " 

"  You  lie !  "  the  woman  interrupted.  "  You  lie  or  you 
do  yourself  an  injustice.  We  gave  you  four  years,  and 
looking  into  your  face,  I  think  that  it  has  been  enough. 
I  think  that  the  weariness  is  there  already.  In  any  case, 
the  charge  which  I  lay  upon  you  in  these  my  last  moments, 
is  one  which  you  can  escape  by  death  only." 

A  low  murmur  of  voices  from  those  others  repeated 
her  words. 

"  By  death  only !  " 

Peter  Ruff  opened  his  lips,  but  closed  them  again  with- 
out speech.  A  wave  of  emotion  seemed  passing  through 
the  room.  Something  strange  was  happening.  It  was 
Death  itself,  which  had  come  among  them. 

A  morning  journalist  wrote  of  the  death  of  Madame 
eloquently,  and  with  feeling.  She  had  been  a  broad-minded 
aristocrat,  a  woman  of  brilliant  intellect  and  great  friend- 
ships, a  woman  of  whose  inner  life  during  the  last  ten  or 
fifteen  years  little  was  known,  yet  who,  in  happier  times, 
might  well  have  played  a  great  part  in  the  history  of  her 
country. 

Peter  Ruff  drove  back  from  the  cemetery  with  the 
Marquis  de  Sogrange,  and,  for  the  first  time  since  the 
death  of  Madame,  serious  subjects  were  spoken  of. 

"  I  have  waited  here  patiently,"  he  declared,  "  but  there 
are  limits.     I  want  my  wife." 

Sogrange  took  him  by  the  arm  and  led  him  into   the 


RECALLED    BY    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR      205 

library  of  the  house  in  the  Rue  de  St.  Quintaine.  The  six 
men  who  were  already  there  waiting  rose  to  their  feet. 

"  Gentlemen,"  the  Marquis  said,  "  is  it  your  will  that  I 
should  be  spokesman?  " 

There  was  a  murmur  of  assent.  Then  Sogrange  turned 
toward  his  companion,  and  something  new  seemed  to  have 
crept  into  his  manner  —  a  solemn,  almost  a  threatening 
note. 

"  Peter  Ruff,"  he  continued,  "  you  have  trifled  with  the 
one  organization  in  this  world  which  has  never  allowed 
liberties  to  be  taken  with  it.  Men  who  have  done  greater 
service  than  you  have  died,  for  the  disobedience  of  a  day. 
You  have  been  treated  leniently,  according  to  the  will  of 
Madame.  According  to  her  will,  and  in  deference  to  the 
position  which  you  must  now  take  up  among  us,  we  will  treat 
you  as  no  other  has  ever  been  treated  by  us.  The  Double- 
Four  admits  your  leadership  and  claims  you  for  its  own." 

"  I  am  not  prepared  to  discuss  anything  of  the  sort," 
Peter  Ruff  declared,  doggedly,  "  until  my  wife  is  restored 
to  me." 

The  Marquis  smiled. 

"  The  traditions  of  your  race,  Mr.  Ruff,"  he  said,  "  are 
easily  manifest  in  you.  Now  hear  our  decision.  Your  wife 
shall  be  restored  to  you  on  the  day  when  you  take  up  this 
position  to  which  you  have  become  entitled.  Sit  down  and 
listen." 

Peter  Ruff  was  a  rebel  at  heart,  but  he  felt  the  grip  of  iron. 

"  During  these  four  years  when  you,  my  friend,  have 
been  growing  turnips  and  shooting  your  game,  events  in 
the  great  world  have  marched,  new  powers  have  come  into 
being,  a  new  page  of  history  has  been  opened.  As  every- 
thing which  has  good  at  the  heart  evolves  toward  the  good, 
so  we  of  the  Double-Four  have  lifted  our  great  enterprise 
onto  a  higher  plane.     The  world  of  criminals  is  still  at 


206     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

our  beck  and  call,  we  still  claim  the  right  to  draw  the  line 
between  moral  theft  and  immoral  honesty,  but  to-day  the 
Double-Four  is  concerned  with  greater  things.  Within  the 
four  walls  of  this  room,  within  the  hearing  of  these  my 
brothers,  whose  fidelity  is  as  sure  as  the  stones  of  Paris,  I 
tell  you  a  great  secret.  The  government  of  our  country 
has  craved  for  our  aid  and  the  aid  of  our  organization. 
It  is  no  longer  the  wealth  of  the  world  alone,  which  we  may 
control,  but  the  actual  destinies  of  nations." 

"  What  I  suppose  you  mean  to  say  is,"  Peter  Ruff 
remarked,  "  that  you  've  been  going  in  for  politics  ?  " 

"  You  put  it  crudely,  my  English  bull-dog,"  Sogrange 
answered,  "  but  you  are  right.  We  are  occupied  now 
by  affairs  of  international  importance.  More  than  once, 
during  the  last  few  month,  ours  has  been  the  hand  which 
has  changed  the  policy  of  an  empire." 

"  Most  interesting,"  Peter  Ruff  declared,  "  but  so  far 
as  I,  personally,  am  concerned  —  " 

"  Listen,"  interrupted  the  Marquis.  "  Not  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  French  Embassy,  in  London,  there  is  wait- 
ing for  you  a  house  and  servants  no  less  magnificent  than 
the  Embassy  itself.  You  will  become  the  ambassador  in 
London  of  the  Double-Four,  titular  head  of  our  associa- 
tion, a  personage  whose  power  is  second  to  none  in  your 
great  city.  I  do  not  address  words  of  caution  to  you, 
my  friend,  because  we  have  satisfied  ourselves  as  to  your 
character  and  capacity  before  we  consented  that  you 
should  occupy  your  present  position.  But  I  ask  you  to 
remember  this.  The  will  of  Madame  lives  even  beyond  the 
grave.  The  spirit  which  animated  her  when  alive  breathes 
still  in  all  of  us.  In  London  you  will  wield  a  great  power. 
Use  it  for  the  common  good.  And,  remember  this  —  the 
Double-Four  has  never  failed,  the  Double-Four  never 
can  fail." 


RECALLED    BY    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR      207 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  are  so  confident,"  Peter  Ruff 
said.  "  Of  course,  if  I  have  to  take  this  thing  on,  I  shall 
do  my  best,  but  if  I  might  venture  to  allude,  for  a  moment, 
to  anything  so  trifling  as  my  own  domestic  affairs,  I  am 
very  anxious  to  know  about  my  wife." 

Sogrange  smiled. 

"  You  will  find  Mrs.  Ruff  awaiting  you  in  London," 
he  announced.  "  Your  address  is  Porchester  House, 
Porchester  Square." 

"  When  do  I  go  there?  "  Peter  Ruff  asked. 

"  To-night,"  was  the  answer. 

"  And  what  do  I  do  when  I  get  there?  "  he  persisted. 

"  For  three  days,"  the  Marquis  told  him,  "  you  will 
remain  indoors,  and  give  audience  to  whoever  may  come  to 
you.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  you  will  understand  a  little 
more  of  our  purpose  and  our  objects  —  perhaps,  even, 
of  our  power." 

"  I  see  difficulties,"  Peter  Ruff  remarked.  "  There  will 
be  a  good  many  people  who  will  remember  me  when  I 
had  offices  in  Southampton  Row.  My  name,  you  see,  is 
uncommon." 

Sogrange  drew  a  document  from  the  breast  pocket  of 
his  coat. 

"  When  you  leave  this  house  to-night,"  he  proclaimed, 
"  we  bid  good-by  forever  to  Mr.  Peter  Ruff.  You  will 
find  in  this  envelope  the  title  deeds  of  a  small  property 
which  is  our  gift  to  you.  Henceforth  you  will  be  known 
by  the  name  and  title  of  your  estates." 

"  Title !  "  Peter  Ruff  gasped. 

"  You  will  reappear  in  London,"  Sogrange  continued, 
"  as  the  Baron  de  Grost." 

Peter  Ruff  shook  his  head. 

"  It  won't  do,"  he  declared,  "  people  will  find  me  out." 

"  There  is  nothing  to  be  found  out,"  the  Marquis  went 


2o8    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

on,  a  little  wearily.  "  Your  country  life  has  dulled  your  wits, 
Baron.  The  title  and  the  name  are  justly  yours  —  they 
go  with  the  property.  For  the  rest,  the  history  of  your 
family,  and  of  your  career  up  to  the  moment  when  you 
enter  Porchester  House  to-night,  will  be  inside  this  packet. 
You  can  peruse  it  upon  the  journey,  and  remember  that  we 
can,  at  all  times,  bring  a  hundred  witnesses,  if  necessary, 
to  prove  that  you  are  who  you  declare  yourself  to  be. 
When  you  get  to  Charing-Cross,  do  not  forget  that  it  will 
be  the  carriage  and  servants  of  the  Baron  de  Grost  which 
await  you." 

Peter  Ruff  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  thoughtfully,  "  I  suppose  I  shall  get 
used  to  it." 

"  Naturally,"  Sogrange  answered.  "  For  the  moment, 
we  are  passing  through  a  quiet  time,  necessitated  by  the 
mortal  illness  of  Madame.  You  will  be  able  to  spend  the 
next  few  weeks  in  getting  used  to  your  new  position.  You 
will  have  a  great  many  callers,  inspired  by  us,  who  will  see 
that  you  make  the  right  acquaintances  and  that  you  join 
the  right  clubs.  At  the  same  time,  let  me  warn  you  always 
to  be  ready.  There  is  trouble  brewing  just  now  all  over 
Europe.  In  one  way  or  another,  we  may  become  involved 
at  any  moment.  The  whole  machinery  of  our  society  will 
be  explained  to  you  by  your  secretary.  You  will  find  him 
already  installed  at  Porchester  House.  A  glass  of  wine, 
Baron,  before  you  leave." 

Peter  Ruff  glanced  at  the  clock. 

"  There  are  my  things  to  pack,"  he  began  — = 

Sogrange  smiled. 

*'  Your  valet  is  already  on  the  front  seat  of  the  auto- 
mobile which  is  waiting,"  he  remarked.  "  You  will  find 
him  attentive  and  trustworthy.  The  clothes  which  you 
brought  with  you  we  have  taken  the  liberty  of  dispensing 


RECALLED    BY   THE    DOUBLE-FOUR      209 

with.  You  will  find  others  in  jour  trunk,  and  at  Por- 
chester  House  you  can  send  for  any  tailor  you  choose. 
One  toast,  Baron.  We  drink  to  the  Double-Four  —  to 
the  great  cause !  " 

There  was  a  murmur  of  voices.  Sogrange  lifted  once 
more  his  glass. 

"  May  Peter  Ruff  rest  in  peace !  "  he  said.  "  We  drink 
to  his  ashes.  We  drink  long  life  and  prosperity  to  the 
Baron  de  Grost !  " 


CHAPTER    II 

PRINCE  Albert's  card  debts 

It  was  half  past  twelve,  and  every  table  at  the  Berkeley 
Bridge  Club  was  occupied.  On  the  threshold  of  the  princi- 
pal room  a  visitor,  who  was  being  shown  around,  was 
asking  questions  of  the  secretary. 

"  Is  there  any  gambling  here.''  "  he  inquired. 

The  secretary  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  I  am  afraid  that  some  of  them  go  a  little  beyond  the 
club  points,"  he  answered.  "  You  see  that  table  against 
the  wall?     They  are  playing  shilling  auction  there." 

The  table  near  the  wall  was,  perhaps,  the  most  silent. 
The  visitor  looked  at  it  last  and  most  curiously. 

"Who  is  the  dissipated-looking  boy  playing  there.'''* 
he  asked. 

"  Prince  Albert  of  Trent,"  the  secretary  answered. 

"  And  who  is  the  little  man,  rather  like  Napoleon,  who 
sits  in  the  easy-chair  and  watches  ?  " 

"  The  Baron  de  Grost." 

"  Never  heard  of  him,"  the  visitor  declared. 

"  He  is  a  very  rich  financier  who  has  recently  blossomed 
out  in  London,"  the  secretary  said.  "  One  sees  him  every- 
where. He  has  a  good-looking  wife,  who  is  playing  in 
the  other  room." 

"  A  good-looking  wife,"  the  visitor  remarked,  thought- 


PRINCE    ALBERT'S    CARD    DEBTS         211 

fully.  *'  But,  yes !  I  thank  you  very  much,  Mr.  Court- 
ledge  for  showing  me  round.     I  will  find  my  friends  now." 

He  turned  away,  leaving  Courtledge  alone,  for  a  minute 
or  two,  on  the  threshold  of  the  card  room.  The  secretary's 
attention  was  riveted  upon  the  table  near  the  wall,  and  the 
frown  on  his  face  deepened.  Just  as  he  was  moving  off,  the 
Baron  de  Grost  rose  and  joined  him. 

"  They  are  playing  a  little  high  in  here  this  evening," 
the  latter  remarked  quietly. 

Courtledge  frowned. 

"  I  wish  I  had  been  in  the  club  when  they  started," 
he  said,  gloomily.  "  My  task  is  all  the  more  difficult 
now." 

The  Baron  de  Grost  looked  pensively,  for  a  moment,  at 
the  cigarette  which  he  was  carrying. 

"  By  the  bye,  Mr.  Courtledge,"  he  asked,  with  apparent 
irrelevance,  "  what  was  the  name  of  the  tall  man  with  whom 
you  were  talking  just  now.?  " 

"  Count  von  Hern.  He  was  brought  in  by  one  of  the 
attaches  at  the  German  Embassy." 

Baron  de  Grost  passed  his  arm  through  the  secretary's 
and  led  him  a  little  way  through  the  corridor. 

"  I  thought  I  recognized  our  friend,"  he  remarked. 
*'  His  presence  here  this  evening  is  quite  interesting." 

"  Why  this  evening.'^  " 

Baron  de  Grost  avoided  the  question. 

"  Mr.  Courtledge,"  he  said,  "  I  think  that  you  will  allow 
me  to  ask  you  something  without  thinking  me  impertinent. 
You  know  that  my  wife  and  I  have  taken  some  interest  in 
Prince  Albert.  It  is  on  his  account,  is  it  not,  that  you 
look  so  gloomy  to-night,  as  though  you  had  an  execution 
in  front  of  you.''  " 

Courtledge  nodded. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  announced,  "  that  we  have  come  to  the 


212     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

end  of  our  tether  with  that  young  man.  It 's  a  pity,  too, 
for  he  is  n't  a  bad  sort,  and  it  will  do  the  club  no  good  if  it 
gets  about.  But  he  has  n't  settled  up  for  a  fortnight,  and 
the  matter  came  before  the  committee  this  afternoon.  He 
owes  one  man  over  seven  hundred  pounds." 

The  Baron  de  Grost  listened  gravely. 

"  Are  you  going  to  speak  to  him  to-night?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  must.  I  am  instructed  by  the  committee  to  ask  him 
not  to  come  to  the  club  again  until  he  has  discharged  his 
obligations." 

De  Grost  smoked  thoughtfully  for  a  few  moments. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  suppose  there  is  no  getting  out 
of  it.  Don't  rub  it  in  too  thick,  though.  I  mean  to  have 
a  talk  with  the  boy  afterwards,  and  if  I  am  satisfied  with 
what  he  says,  the  money  will  be  all  right." 

Courtledge  raised  his  eyebrows. 

"  You  know,  of  course,  that  he  has  a  very  small  income 
and  no  expectations  ?  " 

"  I  know  that,"  Baron  de  Grost  answered.  "  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  hard  to  forget  that  he  really  is  a  member 
of  the  royal  house,  even  though  the  kingdom  is  a  small 
one." 

"  Not  only  is  the  kingdom  a  small  one,"  Courtledge  re- 
marked, "  but  there  are  something  like  five  lives  between 
him  and  the  succession.  However,  it 's  very  good-natured 
of  you,  Baron,  to  think  of  lending  him  a  hand.  I  '11  let 
him  down  as  lightly  as  I  can.  You  know  him  better  than 
any  one;  I  wonder  if  you  could  make  an  excuse  to  send 
him  out  of  the  room.''  I'd  rather  no  one  saw  me  talking 
to  him." 

*'  Quite  easy,"  said  the  Baron.    "  I  '11  manage  it." 

The  rubber  was  just  finishing  as  De  Grost  re-entered  the 
room.  He  touched  the  young  man,  who  had  been  the 
subject  of  their  conversation,  upon  the  shoulder. 


PRINCE    ALBERT'S    CARD    DEBTS         213 

"  My  wife  would  like  to  speak  to  you  for  a  moment," 
he  said.     "  She  is  in  the  other  room." 

Prince  Albert  rose  to  his  feet.  He  was  looking  very 
pale,  and  the  ash-tray  in  front  of  him  was  littered  with 
cigarette  ends. 

"I  will  go  and  pay  my  respects  to  the  Baroness,"  he 
declared.     "  It  will  change  my  luck,  perhaps.     Au  revoir !  " 

He  passed  out  of  the  room  and  all  eyes  followed 
him. 

Has  the  Prince  been  losing  again  to-night.''"  the  Baron 
asked. 

One  of  the  three  men  at  the  table  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  He  owes  me  about  five  hundred  pounds,"  he  said, 
"  and  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  'd  really  rather  not  play 
any  mdVe.  I  don't  mind  high  points,  but  his  doubles  are 
absurd." 

"Why  not  break  up  the  table?"  the  Baron  suggested. 
"  The  boy  can  scarcely  afford  such  stakes." 

He  strolled  out  of  the  room  in  time  to  meet  the  Prince, 
who  was  standing  in  the  corridor.  A  glance  at  his  face 
was  sufficient  —  the  secretary  had  spoken.  He  would  have 
hurried  off,  but  the  Baron  intercepted  him. 

"You  are  leaving.  Prince?"  he  asked. 

"  Yes  !  "  was  the  somewhat  curt  reply. 

"  I  will  walk  a  little  way  with  you,  if  I  may,"  De  Grost 
continued.  "  My  wife  brought  Lady  Brownloe,  and  the 
brougham  only  holds  two  comfortably." 

Prince  Albert  made  no  reply.  He  seemed  just  then 
scarcely  capable  of  speech.  When  they  had  reached  the 
pavement,  however,  the  Baron  took  his  arm. 

"My  young  friend,"  he  inquired,  "how  much  does  it 
all  amount  to  ?  " 

The  Prince  turned  towards  him  with  darkening 
face. 


214     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  knew,  then,"  he  demanded,  "  that  Mr.  Courtledge 
was  going  to  speak  to  me  of  my  debts  ?  " 

"  I  was  sorry  to  hear  that  it  had  become  necessary,"  the 
Baron  answered.  "  You  must  not  take  it  too  seriously. 
You  know  very  well  that  at  a  club  like  the  Berkeley,  which 
has  such  a  varied  membership,  card  debts  must  be  settled 
on  the  spot." 

"  Mine  will  be  settled  before  mid-day  to-morrow,"  the 
young  man  declared,  sullenly.  "  I  am  not  sure  that  it  may 
not  be  to-night." 

De  Grost  was  silent  for  a  moment.  They  had  turned 
into  Piccadilly.     He  summoned  a  taxicab. 

"  Do  you  mind  coming  round  to  my  house  and  talking 
to  me,  for  a  few  minutes  ?  "  he  asked. 

The  young  man  hesitated. 

"  I  '11  come  round  later  on,"  he  suggested.  "  I  have  a 
call  to  make  first." 

De  Grost  held  open  the  door  of  the  taxicab. 

"  I  want  a  talk  with  you,"  he  said,  "  before  you  make 
that  call." 

"  You  speak  as  though  you  knew  where  I  was  going," 
the  Prince  remarked. 

His  companion  made  no  reply,  but  the  door  of  the  taxi- 
cab  was  still  open  and  his  hand  had  fallen  ever  so  slightly 
upon  the  other's  shoulder.  The  Prince  yielded  to  the 
stronger  will.     He  stepped  inside. 

They  drove  in  silence  to  Porchester  Square.  The  Baron 
led  the  way  through  into  his  own  private  sanctum,  and 
closed  the  door  carefully.  Cigars,  cigarettes,  whiskey  and 
soda,  and  liqueurs  were  upon  the  sideboard. 

"  Help  yourself,  Prince,"  he  begged,  "  and  then,  if  you 
don't  mind,  I  am  going  to  ask  you  a  somewhat  impertinent 
question." 

The  Prince  drank  the  greater  part  of  a  whiskey  and  soda 


PRINCE    ALBERT'S    CARD    DEBTS  215 

and  lit  a  cigarette.  Then  he  set  his  tumbler  down  and 
frowned. 

"  Baron  de  Grost,"  he  said,  "  you  have  been  very  kind 
to  me  since  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  your  acquaintance. 
I  hope  you  will  not  ask  me  any  question  that  I  cannot 
answer." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  his  host  declared,  "  the  question 
which  I  shall  ask  will  be  one  which  it  will  be  very  much  to 
your  advantage  to  answer.  I  will  put  it  as  plainly  as 
possible.  You  are  going,  as  you  admit  yourself,  to  pay 
your  card  debts  to-night  or  to-morrow  morning,  and  you 
are  certainly  not  going  to  pay  them  out  of  your  income. 
Where  is  the  money  coming  from?  " 

Albert  of  Trent  seemed  suddenly  to  remember  that  after 
all  he  was  of  royal  descent.  He  drew  himself  up  and  bore 
himself,  for  a  moment,  as  a  Prince  should. 

"  Baron  de  Grost,"  he  said,  "  you  pass  the  limits  of 
friendship  when  you  ask  such  a  question.  I  take  the  liberty 
of  wishing  you  good-night." 

He  moved  towards  the  door.  The  Baron,  however,  was 
in  the  way  —  a  strong,  motionless  figure,  and  his  tone,  when 
he  spoke  again,  was  convincing. 

"  Prince,"  he  declared,  "  I  speak  in  your  own  interests. 
You  have  not  chosen  to  answer  my  question.  Let  me  an- 
swer it  for  you.  The  money  to  pay  your  debts,  and  I  know 
not  how  much  besides,  was  to  come  from  the  Government 
of  a  country  with  whom  none  of  your  name  or  nationality 
should  willingly  have  dealings." 

The  Prince  started  violently.  The  shock  caused  him  to 
forget  his  new-found  dignity. 

"  How,  in  the  devil's  name,  do  you  know  that  ?  "  he 
demanded. 

"  I  know  more,"  the  Baron  continued.  "  I  know  the 
consideration  which  you  were  to  give  for  this  money." 


2i6    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Then  the  Prince  began  plainly  to  show  the  terror  which 
had  crept  into  his  heart  —  the  terror  and  the  shame.  He 
looked  at  his  host  like  a  man  dazed  with  hearing  strange 
things. 

"  It  comes  to  nothing,"  he  said,  in  a  hard,  unnatural 
tone.  "  It  is  a  foolish  bargain,  indeed.  Between  me  and 
the  throne  are  four  lives.  My  promise  is  not  worth  the 
paper  it  is  written  upon.    I  shall  never  succeed." 

"  That,  Prince,  is  probably  where  you  are  misinformed," 
the  Baron  replied.  "  You  are  just  now  in  disgrace  with 
your  family,  and  you  hear  from  them  only  what  the 
newspapers   choose   to  tell." 

"  Has  anything  been  kept  back  from  me  ?  "  the  Prince 
asked. 

"  Tell  me  this  first,"  De  Grost  insisted.  "  Am  I  not  right 
in  assuming  that  you  have  signed  a  solemn  undertaking 
that,  in  the  event  of  your  succeeding  to  the  throne  of 
your  country,  you  will  use  the  whole  of  your  influence 
towards  concluding  a  treaty  with  a  certain  Power,  one  of 
the  provisions  of  which  is  that  that  Power  shall  have  free 
access  to  any  one  of  your  ports  in  the  event  of  war  with 
England?" 

There  was  a  moment's  silence.  The  Prince  clutched  the 
back  of  the  chair  against  which  he  was  leaning. 

"  Supposing  it  were  true.''  "  he  muttered.  "  It  is,  after 
all,  an  idle  promise." 

The  Baron  shook  his  head  slowly. 

"  Prince,"  he  said,  "  it  is  no  such  idle  promise  as  it  seems. 
The  man  who  is  seeking  to  trade  upon  your  poverty  knew 
more  than  he  would  tell  you.  You  may  have  read  in  the 
newspapers  that  your  two  cousins  are  confined  to  the  palace 
with  slight  colds.  The  truth  has  been  kept  quiet,  but  it  is 
none  the  less  known  to  a  few  of  us.  The  so-called  cold  is 
really  a  virulent  attack  of  diphtheria,  and,  according  to 


PRINCE   ALBERT'S   CARD    DEBTS         217 

to-night's  reports,  neither  Prince  Cyril  nor  Prince  Henry 
are  expected  to  live." 

"  Is  this  true  ?  "  the  Prince  gasped. 

"  It  is  true,"  his  host  declared.  "  My  information  can 
be  relied  upon." 

The  Prince  sat  down  suddenly.  He  was  looking  whiter 
than  ever,  and  very  scared. 

"  Even  then,"  he  murmured,  "  there  is  John." 

"  You  have  been  out  of  touch  with  your  family  for 
some  months,"  De  Grost  reminded  his  visitor.  "  One  or  two 
of  us,  however,  know  what  you,  probably,  will  soon  hear. 
Prince  John  has  taken  the  vows  and  solemnly  resigned, 
before  the  Archbishop,  his  heirship.  He  will  be  admitted 
into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  a  week  or  two,  and  will 
go  straight  to  a  monastery." 

"  It 's  likely  enough,"  the  Prince  gasped.  "  He  always 
wanted  to  be  a  monk." 

"  You  see  now,"  the  Baron  continued,  "  that  your 
friend's  generosity  was  not  so  wonderful  a  thing.  Count  von 
Hern  was  watching  you  to-night  at  the  Bridge  Club.  He  has 
gone  home ;  he  is  waiting  now  to  receive  you.  Apart  from 
that,  the  man  Nisch,  with  whom  you  have  played  so  much, 
is  a  confederate  of  his,  a  political  tout,  not  to  say  a  spy." 

**  The  brute !  "  Prince  Albert  muttered.  "  I  am  obliged 
to  you.  Baron,  for  having  warned  me,"  he  added,  rising 
slowly  to  his  feet.  "  I  shall  sign  nothing.  There  is 
another  way." 

De  Grost  shook  his  head. 

**  My  young  friend,"  he  said,  "  there  is  another  way, 
indeed,  but  not  the  way  you  have  in  your  mind  at  this 
moment.  I  offer  you  an  alternative.  I  will  give  you 
notes  for  the  full  amount  you  owe  to-night,  so  that  you 
can,  if  you  will,  go  back  to  the  club  direct  from  here  and 
pay   everything  —  on   one    condition." 


2i8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Condition !  " 

"  You  must  promise  to  put  your  hand  to  no  document 
which  the  Count  von  Hern  may  place  before  you,  and 
pledge  your  word  that  you  have  no  further  dealings  with 
him." 

"But  why  should  you  do  this  for  me?"  the  Prince 
exclaimed.  "  I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  ever  be  able  to 
pay  you." 

"  If  you  succeed  to  the  throne,  you  will  pay  me,"  the 
Baron  de  Grost  said.  "  If  you  do  not  succeed,  remember 
that  I  am  a  rich  man,  and  that  I  shall  miss  this  money  no 
more  than  the  sixpence  which  you  might  throw  to  a 
crossing-sweeper." 

The  Prince  was  silent.  His  host  unlocked  a  small 
cabinet  and  took  from  it  a  bundle  of  notes. 

"  Tell  me  the  whole  amount  you  owe,"  he  insisted, 
"  every  penny,  mind." 

"  Sixteen  hundred  pounds,"  was  the  broken  reply. 

De  Grost  counted  a  little  roll  and  laid  it  upon  the 
table. 

"  There  are  two  thousand  povmds,"  he  said.  "  Listen, 
Prince.  A  name  such  as  you  bear  carries  with  it  certain 
obligations.  Remember  that,  and  try  and  shape  your 
life  accordingly.  Take  my  advice  —  go  back  to  your 
own  country  and  find  some  useful  occupation  there,  even 
if  you  only  rejoin  your  regiment  and  wear  its  uniform. 
The  time  may  come  when  your  country  will  require  you, 
for  her  work  comes  sooner  or  later  to  every  man.  You 
are  leading  a  rotten  life  over  here,  a  life  which  might  have 
led  to  disaster  and  dishonor,  a  life,  as  you  know,  which 
might  have  ended  in  your  rooms  to-night  with  a  small 
bullet  hole  in  your  forehead.  Brave  men  do  not  die  like 
that.     Take  up  the  money,  please." 

The  Baron  de  Grost  sent  a  cipher  dispatch  to  Paris 


PRINCE    ALBERT'S    CARD    DEBTS  219 

that     night,    and     received     an     answer     which     pleased 
him. 

"  It  is  a  small  thing,"  he  read,  "  but  it  is  well  done. 
Particulars  of  a  matter  of  grave  importance  will  reach 
you   to-morrow." 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    ambassador's    WIFE 

Alone  in  his  study,  with  fast-locked  door,  Peter,  Baron 
de  Grost,  sat  reading,  word  by  word,  with  zealous  care 
the  despatch  from  Paris  which  had  just  been  delivered  into 
his  hands.  From  the  splendid  suite  of  reception  rooms 
which  occupied  the  whole  of  the  left-hand  side  of  the  hall 
came  the  faint  sound  of  music.  The  street  outside  was  filled 
with  automobiles  and  carriages  setting  down  their  guests. 
Madame  was  receiving  to-night  a  gathering  of  very  dis- 
tinguished men  and  women,  and  it  was  only  for  a  few 
moments,  and  on  very  urgent  business  indeed,  that  her 
husband  had  dared  to  leave  her  side. 

The  room  in  v/hich  lie  sat  was  in  darkness  except  for 
the  single  heavily  shaded  electric  lamp  which  stood  by  his 
elbow.  Nevertheless,  there  was  sufficient  illumination  to 
show  that  Peter  had  achieved  one,  at  least,  of  his  ambi- 
tions. He  was  wearing  court  dress,  with  immaculate  black 
silk  stockings  and  diamond  buckles  upon  his  shoes.  A  red 
ribbon  was  in  his  buttonhole  and  a  French  order  hung 
from  his  neck.  His  passion  for  clothes  was  certainly 
amply  ministered  to  by  the  exigencies  of  his  new  position. 
Once  more  he  read  those  last  few  words  of  this  unex- 
pectedly received  despatch,  read  them  with  a  frown  upon 
his  forehead  and  the  light  of  trouble  in  his  eyes.    For  three 


THE    AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  221 

months  he  had  done  nothing  but  live  the  life  of  an  ordinary 
man  of  fashion  and  wealth.  His  first  task,  for  which,  to 
tell  the  truth,  he  had  been  anxiously  waiting,  was  here 
before  him,  and  he  found  it  little  to  his  liking.  Again,  he 
read  slowly  to  himself  the  last  paragraph  of  Sogrange's 
letter. 

As  ever,  dear  friend,  one  of  the  greatest  sayings  which  the  men 
of  my  race  have  ever  perpetrated  once  more  justifies  itself  — 
"  Cherchez  la  femme! "  Of  Monsieur  we  have  no  manner  of  doubt, 
we  have  tested  him  in  every  way.  And  to  all  appearance  Madame 
should  also  be  above  suspicion.  Yet  those  things  of  which  I  have 
spoken  have  happened.  For  two  hours  tliis  morning  I  was  closeted 
with  Picon  here.  Very  reluctantly  he  has  placed  the  matter  in  my 
hands.  I  pass  it  on  to  you.  It  is  your  first  undertaking,  cher 
Baron,  and  I  wish  you  hon  fortune.  A  man  of  gallantry,  as  I  know 
you  are,  you  may  regret  that  it  should  be  a  woman,  and  a  beauti- 
ful woman,  too,  against  whom  the  finger  must  be  pointed.  Yet, 
after  all,  the  fates  are  strong  and  the  task  is  yours, 

SOGRANGE. 

The  music  from  the  reception  rooms  grew  louder  and 
more  insistent.  Peter  rose  to  his  feet,  and  moving  to  the 
fireplace,  struck  a  match  and  carefully  destroyed  the 
letter  which  he  had  been  reading.  Then  he  straightened 
himself,  glanced  for  a  moment  at  the  mirror,  and  left  the 
room  to  join  his  guests. 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron  jests,"  the  lady  murmured. 

The  Baron  de  Grost  shook  his  head. 

"  Indeed,  no,  Madame ! "  he  answered  earnestly. 
"  France  has  offered  us  nothing  more  delightful  in  the 
whole  history  of  our  entente  than  the  loan  of  yourself 
and  your  brilliant  husband.  Monsieur  de  Lamborne 
makes  history  among  us  politically,  while  Madame  —  " 

The  Baron  sighed,  and  his  companion  leaned  a  little 
towards  him;  her  dark  eyes  were  full  of  sentimental 
regard. 


222     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Yes  ?  "  she  murmured.     "  Continue.     It  is  my  wish." 

"  I  am  the  good  friend  of  Monsieur  de  Lambome,"  the 
Baron  said,  and  in  his  tone  there  seemed  to  lurk  some 
far-away  touch  of  regret,  "  yet  Madame  knows  that  her 
conquests  here  have  been  many." 

The  Ambassador's  wife  fanned  herself  and  remained 
silent  for  a  moment,  a  faint  smile  playing  at  the  corners 
of  her  full,  curving  lips.  She  was,  indeed,  a  very  beautiful 
woman  —  elegant,  a  Parisienne  to  the  finger-tips,  with  pale 
cheeks,  but  eyes  dark  and  soft,  eyes  trained  to  her  service, 
whose  flash  was  an  inspiration,  whose  very  droop  had  set 
beating  the  hearts  of  men  less  susceptible  than  the  Baron 
de  Grost.  Her  gown  was  magnificent,  of  amber  satin,  a 
color  daring,  but  splendid;  the  outline  of  her  figure,  as 
she  leaned  slightly  back  in  her  seat,  might  indeed  have  been 
traced  by  the  inspired  finger  of  some  great  sculptor. 
De  Grost,  whose  reputation  as  a  man  of  gallantry  was 
well  established,  felt  the  whole  charm  of  her  presence  — 
felt,  too,  the  subtle  indications  of  preference  which  she 
seemed  inclined  to  accord  to  him.  There  was  nothing 
which  eyes  could  say  which  hers  were  not  saying  during 
those  few  minutes.  The  Baron,  indeed,  glanced  around  a 
little  nervously.  His  wife  had  still  her  moments  of 
unreasonableness;  it  was  just  as  well  that  she  was  en- 
gaged with  some  of  her  guests  at  the  farther  end  of  the 
apartments. 

"  You  are  trying  to  turn  my  head,"  his  beautiful 
companion  whispered.     "  You  flatter  me." 

"  It  is  not  possible,"  he  answered. 

Again  the  fan  fluttered  for  a  moment  before  her  face. 
She  sighed. 

"  Ah,  Monsieur ! "  she  continued,  dropping  her  voice 
until  it  scarcely  rose  above  a  whisper,  "  there  are  not  many 
men  like  you.      You   speak   of  my  husband  and  his   po- 


THE    AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  223 

Utical  gifts.  Yet  what,  after  all,  do  they  amount  to? 
What  is  his  position,  indeed,  if  one  glanced  behind  the 
scenes,  compared  with  yours  ?  " 

The  face  of  the  Baron  de  Grost  became  like  a  mask.  It 
was  as  though  suddenly  he  had  felt  the  thrill  of  danger 
close  at  hand,  danger  even  in  that  scented  atmosphere 
wherein   he   sat. 

"  Alas,  Madame ! "  he  answered,  "  it  is  you,  now,  who 
are  pleased  to  jest.  Your  husband  is  a  great  and  power- 
ful ambassador.  I,  unfortunately,  have  no  career,  no 
place  in  life  save  the  place  which  the  possession  of  a  few 
millions  gives  to  a  successful  financier." 

She  laughed  very  softly,  and  again  her  eyes  spoke  to  him, 

"  Monsieur,"  she  murmured,  "  you  and  I  together  could 
make  a  great  alliance,  is  it  not  so  ?  " 

"  Madame,"  he  faltered,  doubtfully,  "  if  one  dared 
hope  —  " 

Once  more  the  fire  of  her  eyes,  this  time  not  only  vo- 
luptuous. Was  the  man  stupid,  she  wondered,  or  only 
cautious  ? 

"  If  that  alliance  were  once  concluded,"  she  said,  softly, 
"  one  might  hope  for  everything." 

"  If  it  rests  only  with  me,"  he  began,  seriously,  "  oh, 
Madame !  " 

He  seemed  overcome.  Madame  was  gracious,  but  was 
he  really  stupid  or  only  very  much  in  earnest? 

"  To  be  one  of  the  world's  money  kings,"  she  whispered, 
"  it  is  wonderful  —  that.  It  is  power  —  supreme,  abso- 
lute power.  There  is  nothing  beyond,  there  is  nothing 
greater." 

Then  the  Baron,  who  was  watching  her  closely,  caught 
another  gleam  in  her  eyes,  and  he  began  to  understand. 
He  had  seen  it  before  among  a  certain  type  of  her  country- 
women—  the  greed  of  money.     He  looked  at  her  jewels 


224    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

and  he  remembered  that,  for  an  ambassador,  her  husband 
was  reputed  to  be  a  poor  man.  The  cloud  of  misgiving 
passed  away  from  him  ;  he  settled  down  to  the  game. 

"  If  money  could  only  buy  the  desire  of  one's  heart," 
he  murmured.     "  Alas ! " 

His  eyes  seemed  to  seek  out  Monsieur  de  Lambome 
among  the  moving  throngs.  She  laughed  softly,  and  her 
hand  brushed  his. 

"  Money  and  one  other  thing,  Monsieur  le  Baron,"  she 
whispered  in  his  ear,  "  can  buy  the  jewels  from  a  crown  — 
can  buy,  even,  the  heart  of  a  woman  —  " 

A  movement  of  approaching  guests  caught  them  up, 
and  parted  them  for  a  time.  The  Baroness  de  Grost  was 
at  home  from  ten  till  one,  and  her  rooms  were  crowded. 
The  Baron  found  himself  drawn  on  one  side,  a  few  minutes 
later,  by  Monsieur  de  Lamborne  himself. 

"  I  have  been  looking  for  you,  De  Grost,"  the  latter 
declared.     "  Where  can  we  talk  for  a  moment  .f*  " 

His  host  took  the  ambassador  by  the  arm  and  led  him 
into  a  retired  corner.  Monsieur  de  Lamborne  was  a  tall, 
slight  man,  somewhat  cadaverous  looking,  with  large 
features,  hollow  eyes,  thin  but  carefully  arranged  gray  hair, 
and  a  pointed  gray  beard.  He  wore  a  frilled  shirt,  and  an 
eye-glass  suspended  by  a  broad  black  ribbon  hung  down 
upon  his  chest.  His  face,  as  a  rule,  was  imperturbable 
enough,  but  he  had  the  air,  just  now,  of  a  man  greatly 
disturbed. 

"We  cannot  be  overheard  here,"  De  Grost  remarked. 
"  It  must  be  an  affair  of  a  few  words  only,  though." 

Monsieur  de  Lamborne  wasted  no  time  in  preliminaries. 

"  This  afternoon,"  he  said,  "  I  received  from  my  Govern- 
ment papers  of  immense  importance,  which  I  am  to  hand 
over  to  your  Foreign  Minister  at  eleven  o'clock  to-morrow 
morning." 


THE   AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  225 

The  Baron  nodded. 

"Well?" 

De  Lamborne's  thin  fingers  trembled  as  they  played 
nervously  with  the  ribbon  of  his  eye-glass. 

"  Listen,"  he  continued,  dropping  his  voice  a  little. 
"  Bernadine  has  undertaken  to  send  a  copy  of  their  con- 
tents to  Berlin  by  to-morrow  night's  mail." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  ?  " 

The  ambassador  hesitated. 

"  We,  too,  have  spies  at  work,"  he  remarked,  grimly. 
"  Bernadine  wrote  and  sent  a  messenger  with  the  letter  to 
Berlin.  The  man's  body  is  drifting  down  the  Channel, 
but  the  letter  is  in  my  pocket." 

"  The  letter  from  Bernadine.'^  " 

"  Yes." 

"  What  does  he  say  ?  " 

"  Simply  that  a  verbatim  copy  of  the  document  in 
question  will  be  despatched  to  Berlin  to-morrow  evening, 
without  fail." 

"  There  are  no  secrets  between  us,"  De  Grost  declared, 
smoothly.  "  What  is  the  special  importance  of  this 
document  ?  " 

De  Lamborne  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Since  you  ask,"  he  said,  "  I  will  tell  you.  You  know 
of  the  slight  coolness  which  there  has  been  between  our 
respective  Governments.  Our  people  have  felt  that  the 
policy  of  your  ministers  in  expending  all  their  energies 
and  resources  in  the  building  of  a  great  fleet  to  the  utter 
neglect  of  your  army  is  a  wholly  one-sided  arrangement, 
so  far  as  we  are  concerned.  In  the  event  of  a  simultaneous 
attack  by  Germany  upon  France  and  England,  you  would 
be  utterly  powerless  to  render  us  any  measure  of  assistance. 
If  Germany  should  attack  England  alone,  it  is  the  wish  of 
your  Government  that  we  should  be  pledged  to   occupy 


226     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Alsace-Lorraine.  You,  on  the  other  hand,  could  do  nothing 
for  us,  if  Germany's  first  move  were  made  against 
France." 

The  Baron  was  deeply  interested,  although  the  matter 
was  no  new  one  to  him. 

"  Go  on,"  he  directed.  "  I  am  waiting  for  you  to  tell 
me  the  specific  contents  of  this  document." 

"  The  English  Government  has  asked  us  two  questions : 
first,  how  many  complete  army  corps  we  consider  she  ought 
to  place  at  our  disposal  in  this  eventuality ;  and,  secondly, 
at  what  point  should  we  expect  them  to  be  concentrated. 
The  despatch  which  I  received  to-night  contains  the  reply 
to  these  questions." 

"  Which  Bernadine  has  promised  to  forward  to  Berlin 
to-morrow  night,"  the  Baron  remarked,  softly. 

De  Lamborne  nodded. 

"  You  perceive,"  he  said,  "  the  immense  importance  of  the 
affair.  The  very  existence  of  that  document  is  almost  a 
casus  belli." 

"  At  what  time  did  the  despatch  arrive,"  the  Baron 
asked,  "  and  what  has  been  its  history  since  ?  " 

"  It  arrived  at  six  o'clock,  and  went  straight  into  the 
inner  pocket  of  my  coat;  it  has  not  been  out  of  my  pos- 
session for  a  single  second.  Even  while  I  talk  to  you  I 
can  feel  it." 

"  And  your  plans  ?  How  are  you  intending  to  dispose 
of  it  to-night.?  " 

"  On  my  return  to  the  Embassy  I  shall  place  it  in  the 
safe,  lock  it  up,  and  remain  watching  it  until  morning." 

"  There  does  n't  seem  to  be  much  chance  for  Bernadine," 
the  Baron  remarked,  thoughtfully. 

"  But  there  must  be  no  chance  —  no  chance  at  all," 
Monsieur  de  Lamborne  asserted,  with  a  note  of  passion  in 
his   thin  voice.      "  It  is   incredible,  preposterous,  that  he 


THE    AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  227 

should  even  make  the  attempt.  I  want  you  to  come  home 
with  me  and  share  my  vigil.  You  shall  be  my  witness 
in  case  anything  happens.     We  will  watch  together." 

De  Grost  reflected  for  a  moment. 

"  Bemadine  makes  few  mistakes,"  he  said,  thoughtfully. 

Monsieur  de  Lambome  passed  his  hand  across  his 
forehead. 

"  Do  I  not  know  it.''  "  he  muttered.  "  In  this  instance, 
though,  it  seems  impossible  for  him  to  succeed.  The  time 
is  so  short  and  the  conditions  so  difficult.  I  may  count 
upon  your  assistance.  Baron.''" 

The  Baron  drew  from  his  pocket  a  crumpled  piece  of 
paper. 

"  I  received  a  telegram  from  headquarters  this  after- 
noon," he  said,  "  with  instructions  to  place  myself  entirely 
at  your  disposal." 

"  You  will  return  with  me,  then,  to  the  Embassy.''  "  Mon- 
sieur de  Lamborne  asked,  eagerly. 

The  Baron  de  Grost  did  not  at  once  reply.  He  was 
standing  in  one  of  his  characteristic  attitudes,  his  hands 
clasped  behind  him,  his  head  a  little  thrust  forward,  watch- 
ing with  every  appearance  of  courteous  interest  the  room- 
ful of  guests,  stationary  just  now,  listening  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  famous  violinist.  It  was,  perhaps,  by  acci- 
dent that  his  eyes  met  those  of  Madame  de  Lamborne,  but 
she  smiled  at  him  subtly,  more,  perhaps,  with  her  wonderful 
eyes  than  her  lips  themselves.  She  was  the  centre  of 
a  very  brilliant  group,  a  most  beautiful  woman  holding 
court,  as  was  only  right  and  proper,  among  her  admirers. 
The  Baron  sighed. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  not  return  with  you,  De  Lam- 
borne.    I  want  you  to  follow  my  suggestions,  if  you  will." 

"  But,  assuredly !  " 

"  Leave  here  early  and  go  to  your  club.     Remain  there 


228     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

until  one,  then  come  to  the  Embassy.  I  shall  be  there 
awaiting  your  arrival." 

"  You  mean  that  you  will  go  there  alone  ?  I  do  not  un- 
derstand," the  ambassador  protested.  "Why  should  I 
go  to  my  club?     I  do  not  at  all  understand." 

"  Nevertheless,  do  as  I  say,"  De  Grost  insisted.  "  For 
the  present,  excuse  me.    I  must  look  after  my  guests." 

The  music  had  ceased,  there  was  a  movement  toward  the 
supper-room.  The  Baron  offered  his  arm  to  Madame  de 
Lambome,  who  welcomed  him  with  a  brilliant  smile.  Her 
husband,  although,  for  a  Frenchman,  he  was  by  no  means 
of  a  jealous  disposition,  was  conscious  of  a  vague  feeling 
of  luieasiness  as  he  watched  them  pass  out  of  the  room 
together.  A  few  minutes  later  he  made  his  excuses  to  his 
wife  and  with  a  reluctance  for  which  he  could  scarcely 
account  left  the  house.  There  was  something  in  the  air,  he 
felt,  which  he  did  not  understand.  He  would  not  have 
admitted  it  to  himself,  but  he  more  than  half  divined  the 
truth.  The  vacant  seat  in  his  wife's  carriage  was  filled 
that  night  by  the  Baron  de  Grost. 

At  one  o'clock  precisely  Monsieur  de  Lamborne  returned 
to  his  house  and  heard  with  well-simulated  interest  that 
Monsieur  le  Baron  de  Grost  awaited  his  arrival  in  the 
library.  He  found  De  Grost  gazing  with  obvious  respect 
at  the  ponderous  safe  let  into  the  wall. 

"  A  very  fine  affair  —  this,"  he  remarked,  motioning 
with  his  head  toward  it. 

*'  The  best  of  its  kind,"  Monsieur  de  Lamborne  admitted. 
*'  No  burglar  yet  has  ever  succeeded  in  opening  one  of  its 
type.  Here  is  the  packet,"  he  added,  drawing  the  document 
from  his  pocket.  "  You  shall  see  me  place  it  in  safety 
myself." 

The  Baron  stretched  out  his  hand  and  examined  the 
sealed  envelope  for  a  moment  closely.     Then  he  moved  to 


THE    AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  229 

the  writing-table,  and,  placing  it  upon  the  letter  scales, 
made  a  note  of  its  exact  weight.  Finally,  he  watched  it 
deposited  in  the  ponderous  safe,  suggested  the  word  to 
which  the  lock  was  set,  and  closed  the  door.  Monsieur  de 
Lamborne  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief. 

"  I  fancy  this  time,"  he  said,  "  that  our  friends  at  Berlin 
will  be  disappointed.     Couch  or  easy-chair,  Baron?  " 

"  The  couch,  if  you  please,"  De  Grost  replied,  "  a  strong 
cigar,  and  a  long  whiskey  and  soda.  So !  Now,  for  our 
vigil." 

The  hours  crawled  away.  Once  De  Grost  sat  up 
and  listened. 

"  Any  rats  about.'*  "  he  inquired. 

The  ambassador  was  indignant. 

"  I  have  never  heard  one  in  my  life,"  he  answered. 
"  This  is  quite  a  modern  house." 

De  Grost  dropped  his  match-box  and  stooped  to  pick 
it  up. 

"  Any  lights  on  anywhere,  except  in  this  room  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"  Certainly  not,"  Monsieur  de  Lamborne  answered.  "  It 
is  past  three  o'clock,  and  every  one  has  gone  to  bed." 

The  Baron  rose  and  softly  unbolted  the  door.  The 
passage  outside  was  in  darkness.  He  listened  intently,  for 
a  moment,  and  returned,  yawning. 

"  One  fancies  things,"  he  murmured,  apologetically. 

"  For  example?  "  De  Lamborne  demanded. 

The  Baron  shook  his  head. 

"  One  mistakes,"  he  declared.  "  The  nerves  become  over- 
sensitive." 

The  dawn  broke  and  the  awakening  hum  of  the  city 
grew  louder  and  louder.  De  Grost  rose  and  stretched 
himself. 

"  Your  servants   are  moving   about   in  the   house,"   he 


230    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

remarked.  "  I  think  that  we  might  consider  our  vigil  at 
an  end." 

Monsieur  de  Lamborne  rose  with  alacrity. 

"  My  friend,"  he  said,  "  I  feel  that  I  have  made  false 
pretenses  to  you.  With  the  day  I  have  no  fear.  A 
thousand  pardons  for  your  sleepless  night." 

"  My  sleepless  night  counts  for  nothing,"  the  Baron 
assured  him,  "  but,  before  I  go,  would  it  not  be  as  well  that 
we  glance  together  inside  the  safe?  " 

De  Lamborne  shook  out  his  keys. 

"  I  was  about  to  suggest  it,"  he  replied. 

The  ambassador  arranged  the  combination  and  pressed 
the  lever.  Slowly  the  great  door  swung  back.  The  two 
men  peered  in. 

"  Untouched !  "  De  Lamborne  exclaimed,  a  little  note  of 
triumph  in  his  tone. 

De  Grost  said  nothing,  but  held  out  his  hand. 

"  Peraiit  me,"  he  interposed. 

De  Lamborne  was  conscious  of  a  faint  sense  of  uneasi- 
ness. His  companion  walked  across  the  room  and  carefully 
weighed  the  packet. 

"  Well.?  "  De  Lamborne  cried.  "  Why  do  you  do  that? 
What  is  wrong?  " 

The  Baron  turned  and  faced  him.  ^ 

"  My  friend,"  he  said,  "  this  is  not  the  same  packet." 

The  ambassador  stared  at  him  incredulously. 

"You  are  jesting!  "  he  exclaimed.  "Miracles  do  not 
happen.     The  thing  is  impossible." 

"  It  is  the  impossible,  then,  which  has  happened,"  De 
Grost  replied,  swiftly.  "  This  packet  can  scarcely  have 
gained  two  ounces  in  the  night.  Besides,  the  seal  is  fuller. 
I  have  an  eye  for  these  details." 

De  Lamborne  leaned  against  the  back  of  the  table.  His 
eyes  were  a  little  wild,  but  he  laughed  hoarsely. 


THE    AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  231 

"  We  fight,  then,  against  the  creatures  of  another  world," 
he  declared.  "  No  human  being  could  have  opened  that 
safe  last  night." 

The  Baron  hesitated. 

"  Monsieur  de  Lamborne,"  he  said,  "  the  room  adjoining 
is  your  wife's." 

"  It  is  the  salon  of  Madame,"  the  ambassador  admitted. 

"  What  are  the  electrical  appliances  doing  there  ?  " 
the  Baron  demanded.  "  Don't  look  at  me  like  that, 
De  Lamborne.  Remember  that  I  was  here  before  you 
arrived." 

"  My  wife  takes  an  electric  massage  every  day,"  Mon- 
sieur de  Lamborne  answered,  in  a  hard,  unnatural  voice. 
"  In  what  way  is  Monsieur  le  Baron  concerned  in  my  wife's 
doings.''  " 

"  I  think  that  there  need  be  no  answer  to  that  question," 
De  Grost  said,  quietly.  "  It  is  a  greater  tragedy  which  we 
have  to   face." 

Quick  as  lightning,  the  Frenchman's  hand  shot  out.  De 
Grost  barely  avoided  the  blow. 

"  You  shall  answer  to  me  for  this,  sir,"  De  Lamborne 
cried.    "  It  is  the  honor  of  my  wife  which  you  assail." 

"  I  maintain  only,"  the  Baron  answered,  "  that  your 
safe  was  entered  from  that  room.     A  search  will  prove  it." 

"  There  will  be  no  search  there,"  De  Lamborne  declared, 
fiercely.  "  I  am  the  Ambassador  of  France,  and  my  power 
under  this  roof  is  absolute.  I  say  that  you  shall  not  cross 
that  threshold." 

De  Grost's  expression  did  not  change.  Only  his  hands 
were  suddenly  outstretched  with  a  curious  gesture  —  the 
four  fingers  were  raised,  the  thumbs  depressed.  Monsieur 
De  Lamborne  collapsed. 

"  I  submit,"  he  muttered.  "  It  is  you  who  are  the  master. 
Search  where  you  will." 


232    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Monsieur  has  arrived?  "  the  woman  demanded,  breath- 
lessly. 

The  proprietor  of  the  restaurant  himself  bowed  a  reply. 
His  client  was  evidently  well-known  to  him.  He  answered 
her  in  French  —  French,  with  a  very  guttural  accent. 

"  Monsieur  has  ascended  some  few  minutes  ago.  Myself, 
I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  wishing  him  bon  aperitif, 
but  Fritz  announced  his  coming." 

The  woman  drew  a  little  sigh  of  relief.  A  vague  mis- 
giving had  troubled  he^  during  the  last  few  hours.  She 
raised  her  veil  as  she  mounted  the  narrow  staircase  which 
led  to  the  one  private  room  at  the  Hotel  de  Lorraine. 

She  entered,  without  tapping,  the  room  at  the  head  of 
the  stairs,  pushing  open  the  ill-varnished  door  with  its 
white-curtained  top.  At  first  she  thought  that  the  little 
apartment  was  empty. 

"Are  you  there .? "  she  exclaimed,  advancing  a  few 
steps. 

The  figure  of  a  man  ghded  from  behind  the  worn  screen 
close  by    her  side,  and  stood  between  her  and  the  door. 

"  Madame !  "  De  Grost  said,  bowing  low. 

Even  then  she  scarcely  realized  that  she  was  trapped. 

"  You  .f* "  she  cried.  "You,  Baron?  But  I  do  not  under- 
stand.   You  have  followed  me  here?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  Madame,"  he  answered.  "  I  have 
preceded  you." 

Her  colossal  vanity  triumphed  over  her  natural  astute- 
ness. The  man  had  employed  spies  to  watch  her!  He 
had  lost  his  head.  It  was  an  awkward  matter,  this,  but  it 
was  to  be  arranged.     She  held  out  her  hands. 

"  Monsieur,"  she  said,  "  let  me  beg  you  now  to  go  away. 
If  you  care  to,  come  and  see  me  this  evening.  I  will  explain 
everything.  It  is  a  little  family  affair  which  brings  me 
here." 


Before  he  could  tell  nx:hat 
ivas  happening,  she  tvas 
on    her    knees    before    him. 

Page  233. 


THE   AMBASSADOR'S    WIFE  233 

"  A  family  affair,  Madame,  with  Bernadine,  the  enemy 
of  France,"  De  Grost  declared,  gravely. 

She  collapsed  miserably,  her  fingers  grasping  at  the 
air,  the  cry  which  broke  from  her  lips  harsh  and  unnatural. 
Before  he  could  tell  what  was  happening,  she  was  on  her 
knees  before  him. 

"  Spare  me,"  she  begged,  trying  to  seize  his  hands. 

"  Madame,"  De  Grost  answered,  "  I  am  not  your  judge. 
You  will  kindly  hand  over  to  me  the  document  which  you 
are  carrying." 

She  took  it  from  the  bosom  of  her  dress.  De  Grost 
glanced  at  it,  and  placed  it  in  his  breast-pocket. 

"  And  now  ?  "  she  faltered. 

De  Grost  sighed  —  she  was  a  very  beautiful  woman. 

"  Madame,"  he  said,  "  the  career  of  a  spy  is,  as  you  have 
doubtless  sometimes  realized,  a  dangerous  one." 

"  It  is  finished,"  she  assured  him,  breathlessly.  "  Mon- 
sieur le  Baron,  you  will  keep  my  secret?  Never  again,  I 
swear  it,  will  I  sin  like  this.  You,  yourself,  shall  be  the 
trustee  of  my  honor." 

Her  eyes  and  arms  besought  him,  but  it  was  surely  a 
changed  man  —  this.  There  was  none  of  the  suaveness, 
the  delicate  responsiveness  of  her  late  host  at  Porchester 
House.  The  man  who  faced  her  now  possessed  the  features 
of  a  sphinx.    There  was  not  even  pity  in  his  face. 

"  You  will  not  tell  my  husband?  "  she  gasped. 

"  Your,  husband  already  knows,  Madame,"  was  the 
quiet  reply.  "  Only  a  few  hours  ago  I  proved  to  him 
whence  had  come  the  leakage  of  so  many  of  our  secrets 
lately." 

She  swayed  upon  her  feet. 

"  He  will  never  forgive  me,"  she  cried. 

"  There  are  others,"  Dc  Grost  declared,  "  who  forgive 
more  rarely,  even,  than  husbands." 


234     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

A  sudden  illuminating  flash  of  horror  told  her  the  truth. 
She  closed  her  eyes  and  tried  to  run  from  the  room. 

"  I  will  not  be  told,"  she  screamed.  "  I  will  not  hear. 
I  do  not  know  who  you  are.    I  will  live  a  little  longer." 

"  Madame,"  De  Grost  said,  "  the  Double-Four  wages  no 
war  with  women,  save  with  spies  only.  The  spy  has  no 
sex.  For  the  sake  of  your  family,  permit  me  to  send  you 
back  to  your  husband's  house." 

That  night,  two  receptions  and  a  dinner  party  were 
postponed.  All  London  was  sympathizing  with  Monsieur 
de  Lamborne,  and  a  great  many  women  swore  never  again 
to  take  a  sleeping  draught.  Madame  de  Lamborne  lay 
dead  behind  the  shelter  of  those  drawn  blinds,  and  by  her 
side  an  empty  phial. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE     MAN     FROM     THE     OLD     TESTAMENT 

Bernadine,  sometimes  called  the  Count  von  Hern,  was 
lunching  at  the  Savoy  with  the  pretty  wife  of  a  Cabinet 
Minister,  who  was  just  sufficiently  conscious  of  the  impro- 
priety of  her  action  to  render  the  situation  interesting. 

"  I  wish  you  would  tell  me,  Count  von  Hern,"  she  said, 
soon  after  they  had  settled  down  in  their  places,  "  why 
my  husband  seems  to  object  to  you  so  much.  I  simply 
dared  not  tell  him  that  we  were  going  to  lunch  together, 
and  as  a  rule  he  does  n't  mind  what  I  do  in  that  way." 

Bernadine  smiled  slowly. 

"  Ah,  well,"  he  remarked,  "  your  husband  is  a  politician 
and  a  very  cautious  man.  I  dare  say  he  is  like  some  of 
those  others,  who  believe  that,  because  I  am  a  foreigner 
and  live  in  London,  therefore  I  am  a  spy." 

"  You  a  spy,"  she  laughed.     "  What  nonsense !  " 

"  Why  nonsense.?  " 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders.  She  was  certainly  a  very 
pretty  woman,  and  her  black  gown  set  off  to  fullest  ad- 
vantage her  deep  red  hair  and  fair  complexion. 

"  I  suppose  because  I  can't  imagine  you  anything  of  the 
sort,"  she  declared.  "  You  see,  you  hunt  and  play  polo, 
and  do  everything  which  the  ordinary  Englishmen  do. 
Then  one  meets  you  everywhere.  I  think.  Count  von  Hern, 
that  you  are  much  too  spoilt,  for  one  thing,  to  take  life 
seriously." 


236    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  do  me  an  injustice,"  he  murmured. 

"  Of  course,"  she  chattered  on,  "  I  don't  really  know 
what  spies  do.  One  reads  about  them  in  these  silly  stories, 
but  I  have  never  felt  sure  that  as  live  people  they  exist 
at  all.  Tell  me,  Count,  what  could  a  foreign  spy  do  in 
EnglancI?" 

Bernadine  twirled  his  fair  moustache  and  shrugged  his 
shoulders. 

"  Indeed,  my  dear  lady,"  he  admitted,  "  I  scarcely  know 
what  a  spy  could  do  nowadays.  A  few  years  ago,  you  Eng- 
lish people  were  all  so  trusting.  Your  fortifications,  your 
battleships,  not  to  speak  of  your  country  itself,  were  wholly 
at  the  disposal  of  the  enterprising  foreigner  who  desired 
to  acquire  information.  The  party  who  governed  Great 
Britain  then  seemed  to  have  some  strange  idea  that  these 
things  made  for  peace.  To-day,  however,  all  that  is 
changed." 

"  You  seem  to  know  something  about  it,"  she  remarked. 

"  I  am  afraid  that  mine  is  really  only  the  superficial 
point  of  view,"  he  answered,  "  but  I  do  know  that  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  information,  which  seems  absolutely  insig- 
nificant in  itself,  for  which  some  foreign  countries  are 
willing  to  pay.  For  instance,  there  was  a  Cabinet  Council 
yesterday,  I  believe,  and  some  one  was  going  to  suggest 
that  a  secret,  but  official,  visit  be  paid  to  your  new  harbor 
works  up  at  Rosyth.  An  announcement  will  probably  be 
made  in  the  papers  during  the  next  few  days  as  to  whether 
the  visit  is  to  be  undertaken  or  not.  Yet  there  are  countries 
who  are  willing  to  pay  for  knowing  even  such  an  insig- 
nificant item  of  news  as  that,  a  few  hours  before  the  rest 
of  the  world." 

Lady  Maxwell  laughed. 

"  Well,  I  could  earn  that  little  sum  of  money,"  she 
declared  gayly,  "  for  my  husband  has  just  made  me  cancel 


THE   MAN  FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     237 

a  dinner-party  for  next  Thursday,  because  he  has  to  go  up 
to  the  stupid  place." 

Bernadine  smiled.  It  was  really  a  very  unimportant 
matter,  but  he  loved  to  feel,  even  in  his  idle  moments,  that 
he  was  not  altogether  wasting  his  time. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  he  said,  "  that  I  am  not  myself  acquainted 
with  one  of  these  mythical  personages  that  I  might  return 
you  the  value  of  your  marvelous  information.  If  I  dared 
think,  however,  that  it  would  be  in  any  way  acceptable, 
I  could  offer  you  the  diversion  of  a  restaurant  dinner-party 
for  that  night.  The  Duchess  of  Castleford  has  kindly 
offered  to  act  as  hostess  for  me  and  we  are  all  going  on  to 
the  Gaiety  afterwards." 

"  Delightful !  "  Lady  Maxwell  exclaimed.  "  I  should 
love  to  come." 

Bernadine  bowed. 

"  You  have,  then,  dear  lady,  fulfilled  your  destiny,"  he 
said.  "  You  have  given  secret  information  to  a  foreign 
person  of  mysterious  identity,  and  accepted  payment." 

Now,  Bernadine  was  a  man  of  easy  manners  and  un- 
ruffled composure.  To  the  natural  insouciance  of  his  aris- 
tocratic bringing  up,  he  had  added  the  steely  reserve  of 
a  man  moving  in  the  large  world,  engaged  more  often 
than  not  in  some  hazardous  enterprise.  Yet,  for  once  in 
his  life,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  idlest  of  conversations, 
he  gave  himself  away  so  utterly  that  even  this  woman  with 
whom  he  was  lunching  —  a  very  butterfly  lady,  indeed  — 
could  not  fail  to  perceive  it.  She  looked  at  him  in  some- 
thing like  astonishment.  Without  the  slightest  warning 
his  face  had  become  set  in  a  rigid  stare,  his  eyes  were  filled 
with  the  expression  of  a  man  who  sees  into  another  world. 
,The  healthy  color  faded  from  his  cheeks,  he  was  white 
even  to  the  parted  lips,  the  wine  dripped  from  his  raised 
glass  onto  the  tablecloth. 


238     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Why,  whatever  is  the  matter  with  you?  "  she  demanded. 
"  Is  it  a  ghost  that  you  see?  " 

Bernadine's  effort  was  superb,  but  he  was  too  clever 
to  deny  the  shock. 

"  A  ghost,  indeed,"  he  answered,  "  the  ghost  of  a  man 
whom  every  newspaper  in  Europe  has  declared  to  be 
dead." 

Her  eyes  followed  his.  The  two  people  who  were  being 
ushered  to  a  seat  in  their  immediate  vicinity  were  certainly 
of  somewhat  unusual  appearance.  The  man  was  tall,  and 
thin  as  a  lath,  and  he  wore  the  clothes  of  the  fashionable 
world  without  awkwardness,  yet  with  the  air  of  one  who 
was  wholly  unaccustomed  to  them.  His  cheek-bones  were  re- 
markably high,  and  receded  so  quickly  towards  his  pointed 
chin  that  his  cheeks  were  little  more  than  hollows.  His 
eyes  were  dry  and  burning,  flashing  here  and  there  as 
though  the  man  himself  were  continually  oppressed  by  some 
furtive  fear.  His  thick  black  hair  was  short  cropped,  his 
forehead  high  and  intellectual.  He  was  a  strange  figure, 
indeed,  in  such  a  gathering,  and  his  companion  only  served 
to  accentuate  the  anachronisms  of  his  appearance.  She 
was,  above  all  things,  a  woman  of  the  moment  —  fair,  al- 
most florid,  a  little  thick-set,  with  tightly-laced,  yet  passable 
figure.  Her  eyes  were  blue,  her  hair  light-colored.  She 
wore  magnificent  furs,  and,  as  she  threw  aside  her  boa,  she 
disclosed  a  mass  of  jewelry  around  her  neck  and  upon  her 
bosom,  almost  barbaric  in  its  profusion  and  setting. 

"  What  an  extraordinary  couple ! "  Lady  Maxwell 
whispered. 

Bernadine  smiled. 

"  The  man  looks  as  though  he  had  stepped  out  of  the 
Old  Testament,"  he  murmured. 

Lady  Maxwell's  interest  was  purely  feminine,  and  was 
riveted  now  upon  the  jewelry  worn  by  the  woman.     Ber- 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     239 

nadine,  under  the  mask  of  his  habitual  indifference,  which 
he  had  easily  reassumed,  seemed  to  be  looking  away  out 
of  the  restaurant  into  the  great  square  of  a  half-savage 
city,  looking  at  that  marvelous  crowd,  numbered  by  their 
thousands,  even  by  their  hundreds  of  thousands,  of  men 
and  women  whose  arms  flashed  out  toward  the  snow-hung 
heavens,  whose  lips  were  parted  in  one  chorus  of  rapturous 
acclamation ;  looking  beyond  them  to  the  tall,  emaciated 
form  of  the  bare-headed  priest  in  his  long  robes,  his  wind- 
tossed  hair  and  wild  eyes,  standing  alone  before  that  multi- 
tude, in  danger  of  death,  or  worse,  at  any  moment  —  their 
idol,  their  hero.  And  again,  as  the  memories  came  flooding 
into  his  brain,  the  scene  passed  away,  and  he  saw  the  bare 
room  with  its  whitewashed  walls  and  blocked-up  windows ; 
he  felt  the  darkness,  lit  only  by  those  flickering  candles. 
He  saw  the  white,  passion-wrung  faces  of  the  men  who 
clustered  together  around  the  rude  table,  waiting ;  he  heard 
their  murmurs,  he  saw  the  fear  born  in  their  eyes.  It 
was  the  night  when  their  leader  did  not  come. 

Bernadine  poured  himself  out  a  glass  of  wine  and  drank 
it  slowly.  The  mists  were  clearing  away  now.  He  was 
in  London,  at  the  Savoy  Restaurant,  and  within  a  few  yards 
of  him  sat  the  man  with  whose  name  all  Europe  once  had 
rung  —  the  man  hailed  by  some  as  martyr,  and  loathed  by 
others  as  the  most  fiendish  Judas  who  ever  drew  breath. 
Bernadine  was  not  concerned  with  the  moral  side  of  this 
strange  encounter.  How  best  to  use  his  knowledge  of  this 
man's  identity  was  the  question  which  beat  upon  his  brain. 
What  use  could  be  made  of  him,  what  profit  for  his  country 
and  himself?  And  then  a  fear  —  a  sudden,  startling  fear. 
Little  profit,  perhaps,  to  be  made,  but  the  danger  —  the 
danger  of  this  man  alive  with  such  secrets  locked  in  his 
bosom!  The  thought  itself  was  terrifying,  and  even  as 
he  realized  it  a  significant  thing  happened  —  he  caught  the 


240    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

eye  of  the  Baron  de  Grost,  lunching  alone  at  a  small  table 
just  inside  the  restaurant. 

"  You  are  not  at  all  amusing,"  his  guest  declared.  "  It 
is  nearly  five  minutes  since  you  have  spoken." 

"  You,  too,  have  been  absorbed,"  he  reminded  her. 

"It  is  that  woman's  jewels,"  she  admitted.  "I  never 
saw  anything  more  wonderful.  The  people  are  not  English, 
of  course.     I  wonder  where  they  come  from." 

"  One  of  the  Eastern  countries,  without  a  doubt,"  he 
replied,  carelessly. 

Lady  Maxwell  sighed. 

"  He  is  a  peculiar-looking  man,"  she  said,  "  but  one 
could  put  up  with  a  good  deal  for  jewels  like  that.  What 
are  you  doing  this  afternoon  —  picture-galleries  or  your 
club.?" 

"  Neither,  unfortunately,"  Bernadine  answered.  *'  I 
have  promised  to  go  with  a  friend  to  look  at  some  polo 
ponies." 

"  Do  you  know,"  she  remarked,  "  that  we  have  never 
been  to  see  those  Japanese  prints  yet.?  " 

"  The  gallery  is  closed  until  Monday,"  he  assured  her, 
falsely.    "  If  you  will  honor  me  then,  I  shall  be  delighted." 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders  but  said  nothing.  She  had 
an  idea  that  she  was  being  dismissed,  but  Bernadine,  with- 
out the  least  appearance  of  hurry,  gave  her  no  opportunity 
for  any  further  suggestions.  He  handed  her  into  the  auto- 
mobile, and  returned  at  once  into  the  restaurant.  He 
touched  Baron  de  Grost  upon  the  shoulder. 

"  My  friend,  the  enemy !  "  he  exclaimed,  smiling. 

"  At  your  service  in  either  capacity,"  the  Baron  replied. 

Bernadine  made  a  grimace  and  accepted  the  chair  which 
De  Grost  had  indicated. 

"  If  I  may,  I  will  take  my  coffee  with  you,"  he  said. 
"  I  am  growing  old.     It  does  not  amuse  me  so  much  to 


THE   MAN  FROM  THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     241 

lunch  with  a  pretty  woman.  One  has  to  entertain,  and  one 
forgets  the  serious  business  of  lunching.  I  will  take  my 
coffee  and  cigarettes  in  peace." 

De  Grost  gave  an  order  to  the  waiter  and  leaned  back 
in  his  chair. 

"  Now,"  he  suggested,  "  tell  me  exactly  what  it  is  that 
has  brought  you  back  into  the  restaurant  .f*  " 

Bernadine  shrugged  his  shoulders. 
"  Why  not  the  pleasure  of  this  few  minutes'  conversation 
with  you?  "  he  asked. 

The  Baron  carefully  selected  a  cigar,  and  lit  it. 

"  That,"  he  said,  "  goes  well,  but  there  are  other 
things." 

"  As,  for  instance.''  " 

De  Grost  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  and  watched  the 
smoke  of  his  cigar  curl  upwards. 

"  One  talks  too  much,"  he  remarked.  "  Before  the  cards 
are  upon  the  table,  it  is  not  wise." 

They  chatted  upon  various  matters.  De  Grost  himself 
seemed  in  no  hurry  to  depart,  nor  did  his  companion  show 
any  signs  of  impatience.  It  was  not  until  the  two  people 
whose  entrance  had  had  such  a  remarkable  effect  upon 
Bernadine,  rose  to  leave,  that  the  mask  was,  for  a  moment, 
lifted.  De  Grost  had  called  for  his  bill  and  paid  it. 
The  two  men  strolled  out  together. 

"  Baron,"  Bernadine  said,  suavely,  linking  his  arm 
through  the  other  man's  as  they  passed  into  the  foyer, 
"  there  are  times  when  candor  even  among  enemies  be- 
comes an  admirable  quality." 

"  Those  times,  I  imagine,"  De  Grost  answered,  grimly, 
"  are  rare.  Besides,  who  is  to  tell  the  real  thing  from  the 
false.?  " 

"  You  do  less  than  justice  to  your  perceptions,  my 
friend,"  Bernadine  declared,  smiling. 


242  PETER  RUFF  AND  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR 

De  Grost  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders.  Bernadine 
persisted. 

"  Come,"  he  continued,  "  since  you  doubt  me,  let  me  be 
the  first  to  give  you  a  proof  that  on  this  occasion,  at  any 
rate,  I  am  candor  itself.  You  had  a  purpose  in  lunching 
at  the  Savoy  to-day.  That  purpose  I  have  discovered  by 
accident.    We  are  both  interested  in  those  people." 

The  Baron  de  Grost  shook  his  head  slowly. 

"  Really,"  he  began  — 

"  Let  me  finish,"  Bernadine  insisted.  "  Perhaps  when 
you  have  heard  all  that  I  have  to  say,  you  may  change 
your  attitude.  We  are  interested  in  the  same  people,  but  in 
different  ways.  If  we  both  move  from  opposite  directions, 
our  friend  will  vanish  —  he  is  clever  enough  at  disappear- 
ing, as  he  has  proved  before.  We  do  not  want  the  same 
thing  from  him,  I  am  convinced  of  that.  Let  us  move 
together  and  make  sure  that  he  does  not  evade  us." 

"  Is  it  an  alliance  which  you  are  proposing?  "  De  Grost 
asked,  with  a  quiet  smile. 

"  Why  not.P  Enemies  have  united  before  to-day  against 
a  common  foe." 

De  Grost  looked  across  the  palm  court  to  where  the 
two  people  who  formed  the  subject  of  their  discussion 
were  sitting  in  a  corner,  both  smoking,  both  sipping  some 
red-colored  liqueur. 

"  My  dear  Bernadine,"  he  said,  "  I  am  much  too  afraid 
of  you  to  listen  any  more.  You  fancy  because  this  man's 
presence  here  was  an  entire  surprise  to  you,  and  because 
you  find  me  already  on  his  track,  that  I  know  more  than 
you  do  and  that  an  alliance  with  me  would  be  to  your 
advantage.  You  would  try  to  persuade  me  that  your 
object  with  him  would  not  be  my  object.  Listen.  I  am 
afraid  of  you  —  you  are  too  clever  for  me.  I  am  going 
to  leave  you  in  sole  possession." 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     243 

De  Grost's  tone  was  final  and  his  bow  valedictory.  Ber- 
nadine  watched  him  stroll  in  a  leisurely  way  through  the 
foyer,  exchanging  greetings  here  and  there  with  friends, 
watched  him  enter  the  cloakroom,  from  which  he  emerged 
with  his  hat  and  overcoat,  watched  him  step  into  his 
automobile  and  leave  the  restaurant.  He  turned  back 
with  a  clouded  face,  and  threw  himself  into  an  easy- 
chair. 

Ten  minutes  passed  uneventfully.  People  were  passing 
backwards  and  forwards  all  the  time,  but  Bernadine, 
through  his  half-closed  eyes,  did  little  save  watch  the 
couple  in  whom  he  was  so  deeply  interested.  At  last  the 
man  rose,  and,  with  a  word  of  farewell  to  his  companion, 
came  out  from  the  lounge,  and  made  his  way  up  the  foyer, 
turning  toward  the  hotel.  He  walked  with  quick,  nervous 
strides,  glancing  now  and  then  restlessly  about  him.  In 
his  eyes,  to  those  who  understood,  there  was  the  furtive 
gleam  of  the  hunted  man.  It  was  the  passing  of  one  who 
was  afraid. 

The  woman,  left  to  herself,  began  to  look  around  her 
with  some  curiosity.  Bernadine,  to  whom  a  new  idea  had 
occurred,  moved  his  chair  nearer  to  hers,  and  was  re- 
warded by  a  glance  which  certainly  betrayed  some  interest. 
A  swift  and  unerring  judge  in  such  matters,  he  came  to 
the  instant  conclusion  that  she  was  not  unapproachable. 
He  acted  immediately  and  upon  impulse.  Rising  to  his 
feet,  he  approached  her,  and  bowed  easily  but  respectfully. 

"  Madame,"  he  said,  "  it  is  impossible  that  I  am  mis- 
taken. I  have  had  the  pleasure,  have  I  not,  of  meeting 
you  in  St.  Petersburg.''  " 

Her  first  reception  of  his  coming  was  reassuring  enough. 
At  his  mention  of  St.  Petersburg,  however,  she  frowned. 

"  I  do  not  think  so,"  she  answered,  in  French.  "  You 
are  mistaken.     I  do  not  know  St.  Petersburg." 


244    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Then  it  was  in  Paris,"  Bernadine  continued,  with 
conviction.     "  Madame  is  Parisian,  without  a  doubt." 

She  shook  her  head,  smihng. 

"  I  do  not  think  that  I  remember  meeting  you.  Mon- 
sieur," she  replied,  doubtfully,  "but  perhaps  — " 

She  looked  up,  and  her  eyes  dropped  before  his.  He 
was  certainly  a  very  personable  looking  man,  and  she  had 
spoken  to  no  one  for  so  many  months. 

"  Believe  me,  Madame,  I  could  not  possibly  be  mistaken," 
Bernadine  assured  her,  smoothly.  "  You  are  staying 
here  for  long?  " 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders. 

"  Heaven  knows  !  "  she  declared.  "  My  husband  he  has, 
I  think,  what  you  call  the  wander  fever.  For  myself,  I 
am  tired  of  it.  In  Rome  we  settle  down,  we  stay  five  days, 
all  seems  pleasant,  and  suddenly  my  husband's  whim  car- 
ries us  away  without  an  hour's  notice.  The  same  thing 
at  Monte  Carlo,  the  same  in  Paris.  Who  can  tell  what 
will  happen  here?  To  tell  you  the  truth.  Monsieur,"  she 
added,  a  little  archly,  "  I  think  that  if  he  were  to  come 
back  at  this  moment,  we  should  probably  leave  England 
to-night." 

"  Your  husband  is  very  jealous?  "  Bernadine  whispered, 
softly. 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders. 

"Partly  jealous,  and  partly,  he  has  the  most  terrible 
distaste  for  acquaintances.  He  will  not  speak  to  strangers 
himself,  or  suffer  me  to  do  so.  It  is  sometimes  —  oh !  it 
is  sometimes  very  triste." 

"  Madame  has  my  sympathy,"  Bernadine  assured  her. 
"  It  is  an  impossible  life  —  this.  No  husband  should  be 
so  exacting." 

She  looked  at  him  with  her  round,  blue  eyes,  a  touch 
of  added  color  in  her  cheeks. 


THE   MAN  FROM   THE  OLD   TESTAMENT     245 

"  If  one  could  but  cure  him !  "  she  murmured. 

"  I  would  ask  your  permission  to  sit  down,"  Bernadine 
remarked,  "  but  I  fear  to  intrude.  You  are  afraid,  per- 
haps, that  your  husband  may  return." 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  It  will  be  better  that  you  do  not  stay,"  she  declared. 
"  For  a  moment  or  two  he  is  engaged.  He  has  an  appoint- 
ment in  his  room  with  a  gentleman,  but  one  never  knows 
how  long  he  may  be." 

"  You  have  friends  in  London,  then,"  Bernadine  re- 
marked, thoughtfully. 

"  Of  my  husband's  ajffairs,"  the  woman  said,  "  there 
is  no  one  so  ignorant  as  I.  Yet  since  we  left  our  own 
country,  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  known  him  willingly 
speak  to  a  soul." 

"  Your  own  country,"  Bernadine  repeated,  softly. 
"  That  was  Russia,  of  course.  Your  husband's  nationality 
is  very  apparent." 

The  woman  looked  a  little  annoyed  with  herself.  She 
remained  silent. 

"  May  I  not  hope,"  Bernadine  begged,  "  that  you  will 
give  me  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  again.''  " 

She  hesitated  for  a  moment. 

"  He  does  not  leave  me,"  she  replied.  "  I  am  not  alone 
for  five  minutes  during  the  day." 

Bernadine  scribbled  the  name  by  which  he  was  known 
in  that  locality,  on  a  card,  and  passed  it  to  her. 

"  I  have  rooms  in  St.  James's  Street,  quite  close  to  here," 
he  said.  "  If  you  could  come  and  have  tea  with  me  to-day 
or  to-morrow,  it  would  give  me  the  utmost  pleasure." 

She  took  the  card,  and  crumpled  it  in  her  hand.  All 
the  time,  though,  she  shook  her  head. 

"  Monsieur  is  very  kind,"  she  answered.  "  I  am  afraid 
—  I  do  not  think  that  it  would  be  possible.     And  now,  if 


246     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

you  please,  you  must  go  away.  I  am  terrified  lest  my 
husband  should  return." 

Bernadine  bent  low  in  a  parting  salute. 

"  Madame,"  he  pleaded,  "  you  will  come?  " 

Bernadine  was  a  handsome  man,  and  he  knew  well  enough 
how  to  use  his  soft  and  extraordinarily  musical  voice.  He 
knew  very  well,  as  he  retired,  that  somehow  or  other  she 
would  accept  his  invitation.  Even  then,  he  felt  dissatisfied 
and  ill  at  ease,  as  he  left  the  place.  He  had  made  a  little 
progress,  but,  after  all,  was  it  worth  while.''  Supposing 
that  the  man  with  whom  her  husband  was  even  at  this 
moment  closeted,  was  the  Baron  de  Grost !  He  called  a 
taxicab  and  drove  at  once  to  the  Embassy  of  his  country. 

Even  at  that  moment,  De  Grost  and  the  Russian  — 
Paul  Hagon  he  called  himself  —  were  standing  face  to 
face  in  the  latter's  sitting-room.  No  conventional  greet- 
ings of  any  sort  had  been  exchanged.  De  Grost  had 
scarcely  closed  the  door  behind  him  before  Hagon  addressed 
him  breathlessly,  almost   fiercely. 

"  Who  are  you,  sir,"  he  demanded,  "  and  what  do  you 
want  with  me?  " 

"  You  had  my  letter?  "  De  Grost  inquired. 

"  I  had  your  letter,"  the  other  admitted.  "  It  told  me 
nothing.  You  speak  of  business.  What  business  have  I 
with  any  here?  " 

"  My  business  is  soon  told,"  De  Grost  replied,  "  but 
in  the  first  place,  I  beg  that  you  will  not  unnecessarily 
alarm  yourself.  There  is,  believe  me,  no  need  for  it,  no 
need  whatever,  although,  to  prevent  misunderstandings,  I 
may  as  well  tell  you  at  once  that  I  am  perfectly  well  aware 
who  it  is  that  I  am  addressing." 

Hagon  collapsed  into  a  chair.  He  buried  his  face  in  his 
hands  and  groaned. 

'•  I  am  not  here  necessarily  as   an  enemy,"  De   Grost 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     247 

continued.  "  You  have  very  excellent  reasons,  I  make  no 
doubt,  for  remaining  unknown  in  this  city,  or  wherever 
you  may  be.  As  yet,  let  me  assure  you  that  your  identity 
is  not  even  suspected,  except  by  myself  and  one  other. 
Those  few  who  believe  you  alive,  believe  that  you  are  in 
America.  There  is  no  need  for  any  one  to  know  that 
Father  —  " 

"  Stop !  "  the  man  begged,  piteously.     "  Stop !  " 

De  Grost  bowed. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said. 

"  Now  tell  me,"  the  man  demanded,  "  what  is  your  price? 
I  have  had  money.  There  is  not  much  left.  Sophia  is 
extravagant  and  traveling  costs  a  great  deal.  But  why  do 
I  weary  you  with  these  things.'*  "  he  added.  "  Let  me  know 
what  I  have  to  pay  for  your  silence." 

"  I  am  not  a  blackmailer,"  De  Grost  answered,  sternly. 
"  I  am  myself  a  wealthy  man.  I  ask  from  you  nothing  in 
money  —  I  ask  you  nothing  in  that  way  at  all.  A  few 
words  of  information,  and  a  certain  paper,  which  I  believe 
you  have  in  your  possession,  is  all  that  I  require." 

"  Information,"  Hagon  repeated,  shivering. 

"  What  I  ask,"  De  Grost  declared,  "  is  really  a  matter 
of  justice.  At  the  time  when  you  were  the  idol  of  all 
Russia  and  the  leader  of  the  great  revolutionary  party, 
you  received  funds  from  abroad." 

"  I  accounted  for  them,"  Hagon  muttered.  "  Up  to  a 
certain  point  I  accounted  for  everything." 

"  You  received  funds  from  the  Government  of  a  Euro- 
pean power,"  De  Grost  continued,  "  funds  to  be  applied 
towards  developing  the  revolution.  I  want  the  name  of 
that  Power,  and  proof  of  what  I  say." 

Hagon  remained  motionless  for  a  moment.  He  had 
seated  himself  at  the  table,  his  head  resting  upon  his 
hand  and  his  face  turned  away  from  Dc  Grost. 


248    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  are  a  politician,  then  ?  "  he  asked,  slowly. 

"  I  am  a  politician,"  De  Grost  admitted.  "  I  represent 
a  great  secret  power  which  has  sprung  into  existence  during 
the  last  few  years.  Our  aim,  at  present,  is  to  bring  closer 
together  your  country  and  Great  Britain.  Russia  hesi- 
tates because  an  actual  rapprochement  with  us  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  permanent  estrangement  with  Germany." 

Hagon  nodded. 

"  I  understand,"  he  said,  in  a  low  tone.  "  I  have  finished 
with  politics.     I  have  nothing  to  say  to  you." 

"  I  trust,"  De  Grost  persisted,  suavely,  "  that  you  will 
be  better  advised." 

Hagon  turned  round  and  faced  him. 

"  Sir,"  he  demanded,  "  do  you  believe  that  I  am  afraid 
of  death?  " 

De   Grost   looked   at   him   steadfastly. 

"  No,"  he  answered,  "  you  have  proved  the  contrary." 

"  If  my  identity  is  discovered,"  Hagon  continued,  "  I 
have  the  means  of  instant  death  at  hand.  I  do  not  use 
it  because  of  my  love  for  the  one  person  who  links  me 
to  this  world.  For  her  sake  I  live,  and  for  her  sake  I 
bear  always  the  memory  of  the  shameful  past.  Publish 
my  name  and  whereabouts,  if  you  will.  I  promise  you 
that  I  will  make  the  tragedy  complete.  But  for  the  rest, 
I  refuse  to  pay  your  price.  A  great  power  trusted  me, 
and  whatever  its  motives  may  have  been,  its  money  came 
very  near  indeed  to  freeing  my  people.  I  have  nothing 
more  to  say  to  you,  sir." 

The  Baron  de  Grost  was  taken  aback.  He  had  scarcely 
contemplated  refusal. 

"  You  must  understand,"  he  explained,  "  that  this  is 
not  a  personal  matter.  Even  if  I  myself  would  spare  you, 
those  who  are  more  powerful  than  I  will  strike.  The 
society  to  which  I  belong  does  not  tolerate  failure.     I  am. 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     249 

empowered  even  to  offer  you  its  protection,  if  you  will 
give  me  the  information  for  which  I  ask." 

Hagon  rose  to  his  feet,  and,  before  De  Grost  could 
foresee  his  purpose,  had  rung  the  bell. 

"  My  decision  is  unchanging,"  he  said.  "  You  can  pull 
down  the  roof  upon  my  head,  but  I  carry  next  my  heart 
an  instant  and  unfailing  means  of  escape." 

A  waiter  stood  in  the  doorway. 

"  You  will  take  this  gentleman  to  the  lift,"  Hagon 
directed. 

There  was  once  more  a  touch  in  his  manner  of  that 
half  divine  authority  which  had  thrilled  the  great  multi- 
tude of  his  believers.  De  Grost  was  forced  to  admit 
defeat. 

**  Not  defeat,"  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  followed  the 
man  to  the  lift,  "  only  a  check." 

Nevertheless,  it  was  a  serious  check.  He  could  not,  for 
the  moment,  see  his  way  further.  Arrived  at  his  house, 
he  followed  his  usual  custom  and  made  his  way  at  once 
to  his  wife's  rooms.  Violet  was  resting  upon  a  sofa,  but 
laid  down  her  book  at  his  entrance. 

*'  Violet,"  he  declared,  "  I  have  come  for  your  advice." 

"  He  refuses,  then?  "  she  asked,  eagerly. 

"  Absolutely.  What  am  I  to  do  ?  Bernadine  is  already 
upon  the  scent.  He  saw  him  at  the  Savoy  to-day,  and 
recognized  him." 

"  Has  Bernadine  approached  him  yet.''  "  Violet  inquired. 

"  Not  yet.  He  is  half  afraid  to  move.  I  think  he 
reahzes,  or  will  very  soon,  how  serious  this  man's  existence 
may  be  for  Germany." 

Violet  was  thoughtful  for  several  moments,  then  she 
looked  up  quickly. 

"  Bernadine  will  try  the  woman,"  she  asserted.  "  You 
say  that  Hagon  is  infatuated  ^  " 


250     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Blindly,"  De  Grost  replied.  "  He  scarcely  lets  her  out 
of  his  sight." 

"  Your  people  watch  Bernadine  ?  " 

"  Always." 

"  Very  well,  then,"  Violet  went  on,  "  you  will  find  that  he 
will  attempt  an  intrigue  with  the  woman.  The  rest  should 
be  easy  for  you." 

De  Grost  sighed  as  he  bent  over  his  wife. 

"  My  dear,"  he  said,  "  there  is  no  subtlety  like  the 
subtlety  of  a  woman." 

Bernadine's  instinct  had  not  deceived  him,  and  the  fol- 
lowing afternoon  his  servant,  who  had  already  received 
orders,  silently  ushered  Madame  Hagon  into  his  apart- 
ments. She  was  wrapped  in  magnificent  sables  and  heavily 
veiled.  Bernadine  saw  at  once  that  she  was  very  nervous 
and  wholly  terrified.  He  welcomed  her  in  as  matter-of-fact 
a  manner  as  possible. 

"  Madame,"  he  declared,  "  this  is  quite  charming  of  you. 
You  must  sit  in  ni}^  easy-chair  here,  and  my  man  shall 
bring  us  some  tea.  I  drink  mine  always  after  the  fashion 
of  your  country,  with  lemon,  but  I  doubt  whether  we  make 
it  so  well.  Won't  you  unfasten  your  jacket.''  I  am  afraid 
that  ray  rooms  are  rather  warm." 

Madame  had  collected  herself,  but  it  was  quite  obvious 
that  she  was  unused  to  adventures  of  this  sort.  Her  hand, 
when  he  took  it,  trembled,  and  more  than  once  she  glanced 
furtively  toward  the  door. 

"  Yes,  I  have  come,"  she  murmured.  "  I  do  not  know 
why.  It  is  not  right  for  me  to  come.  Yet  there  are 
times  when  I  am  weary,  times  when  Paul  seems  fierce  and 
when  I  am  terrified.  Sometimes  I  even  wish  that  I  were 
back—" 

"  Your  husband  seems  very  highly  strung,"  Bernadine 
remarked.     "  He  has  doubtless  led  an  exciting  life." 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT      251 

"  As  to  that,"  she  replied,  gazing  around  her  now  and 
gradually  becoming  more  at  her  ease,  "  I  know  but  little. 
He  was  a  student  professor  at  Moschaume,  when  I  met 
him.  I  think  that  he  was  at  one  of  the  universities  in 
St.  Petersburg." 

Bernadine  glanced  at  her  covertly.  It  came  to  him  as 
an  inspiration  that  the  woman  did  not  know  the  truth. 

"  You  are  from  Russia,  then,  after  all,"  he  said,  smiling. 
"  I  felt  sure  of  it." 

"  Yes,"  reluctantly.  "  Paul  is  so  queer  in  these  things. 
He  will  not  let  me  talk  of  it.  He  prefers  that  we  are 
taken  for  French  people.  Indeed,  it  is  not  I  who  desire  to 
think  too  much  of  Russia.  It  is  not  a  year  since  my  father 
was  killed  in  the  riots,  and  two  of  my  brothers  were  sent 
to  Siberia." 

Bernadine  was  deeply  interested. 

"  They  were  among  the  revolutionaries  ?  "  he  asked. 

She  nodded. 

"  Yes,"   she   answered. 

"And  your  husband?  " 

"  He,  too,  was  with  them  in  sympathy.  Secretly,  too,  I 
believe  that  he  worked  among  them.  Only  he  had  to  be 
careful.  You  see,  his  position  at  the  college  made  it 
difficult." 

Bernadine  looked  into  the  woman's  eyes  and  he  knew 
then  that  she  was  speaking  the  truth.  This  man  was, 
indeed,  a  great  master ;  he  had  kept  her  in  ignorance ! 

"  Always,"  Bernadine  said,  a  few  minutes  later,  as  he 
passed  her  tea,  "  I  read  with  the  deepest  interest  of  the 
people's  movement  in  Russia.  Tell  me,  what  became  even- 
tually of  their  great  leader  —  the  wonderful  Father  Paul?  " 

She  set  down  her  cup  untasted,  and  her  blue  eyes  flashed 
with  a  fire  which  turned  them  almost  to  the  color  of  steel. 

"  Wonderful    indeed !  "    she    exclaimed.       "  Wonderful 


252     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Judas !  It  was  he  who  wrecked  the  cause.  It  was  he  who 
sold  the  lives  and  liberty  of  all  of  us  for  gold." 

"  I  heard  a  rumor  of  that,"  Bernadine  remarked,  "  but 
I  never  believed  it." 

"  It  was  true,"  she  declared  passionately. 

"  And  where  is  he  now  ?  "  Bernadine  asked. 

"  Dead !  "  she  answered  fiercely.  "  Torn  to  pieces,  we 
believe,  one  night  in  a  house  near  Moscow.    May  it  be  so !  " 

She  was  silent  for  a  moment,  as  though  engaged  in 
prayer.  Bernadine  spoke  no  more  of  these  things.  He 
talked  to  her  kindly,  keeping  up  always  his  role  of  re- 
spectful but  hopeful  admirer. 

"  You  will  come  again  soon  .P."  he  begged,  when,  at 
last,  she  insisted  upon  going. 

She  hesitated. 

"  It  is  so  difficult,"  she  murmured.  "  If  my  husband 
knew  —  " 

Bernadine  laughed,  and  touched  her  fingers  caressingly. 

"  Need  one  tell  him.?  "  he  whispered.  "  You  see,  I  trust 
you.     I  pray  that  you  will  come  —  " 

Bernadine  was  a  man  rarely  moved  towards  emotion 
of  any  sort.  Yet  even  he  was  conscious  of  a  certain  sense 
of  excitement,  as  he  stood  looking  out  upon  the  Embank- 
ment from  the  windows  of  Paul  Hagon's  sitting-room,  a 
few  days  later.  Madame  was  sitting  on  the  sofa,  close 
at  hand.  It  was  for  her  answer  to  a  certain  question  that 
he  waited. 

"  Monsieur,"  she  said  at  last,  turning  slowly  towards 
him,  "  it  must  be  no.  Indeed,  I  am  sorry,  for  you  have 
been  very  charming  to  me,  and  without  you  I  should  have 
been  dull.  But  to  come  to  your  rooms  and  dine  alone 
to-night,  it  is  impossible." 

"  Your  husband  cannot  return  before  the  morning," 
Bernadine  reminded  her. 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     253 

"  It  makes  no  difference,"  she  answered.  "  Paul  is 
sometimes  fierce  and  rough,  but  he  is  generous,  and  all 
his  life  he  has  worshiped  me.  He  behaves  strangely  at 
times,  but  I  know  that  he  cares  —  all  the  time  more,  per- 
haps, than  I  deserve." 

"  And  there  is  no  one  else,"  Bernadine  asked  softly, 
"  who  can  claim  even  the  smallest  place  in  your  heart?  " 

"  Monsieur,"  the  woman  begged,  "  you  must  not  ask  me 
that.     I  think  that  you  had  better  go  away." 

Bernadine  stood  quite  still  for  several  moments.  It  was 
the  climax  towards  which  he  had  steadfastly  guided  the 
course  of  this  mild  intrigue. 

"  Madame,"  he  declared,  "  you  must  not  send  me  away. 
You  shall  not." 

She  held  out  her  hand. 

"  Then  you  must  not  ask  impossible  things,"  she 
answered. 

Then  Bernadine  took  the  plunge.  He  became  suddenly 
very  grave. 

"  Sophia,"  he  said,  "  I  am  keeping  a  great  secret  from 
you  and  I  can  do  it  no  longer.  When  you  speak  to  me 
of  your  husband  you  drive  me  mad.  If  I  believed  that  you 
really  loved  him,  I  would  go  away  and  leave  it  to  chance 
whether  or  not  you  ever  discovei'ed  the  truth.    As  it  is  —  " 

*'  Well.''  "  she  interposed  breathlessly. 

"  As  it  is,"  he  continued,  "  I  am  going  to  tell  you  now. 
Your  husband  has  deceived  you  —  he  is  deceiving  you  every 
moment." 

She  looked  at  him  incredulously. 

"  You  mean  that  there  is  another  woman.'*  " 

Bernadine  shook  his  head. 

"  Worse  than  that,"  he  answered.  "  Your  husband  stole 
even  your  love  under  false  pretenses.  You  think  that  his 
life  is  a  strange  one,  that  his  nerves  have  broken  down, 


254     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

that  he  flies  from  place  to  place  for  distraction,  for  change 
of  scene.  It  is  not  so.  He  left  Rome,  he  left  Nice,  he  left 
Paris,  for  one  and  the  same  reason.  He  left  because  he  was 
in  peril  of  his  life.  I  know  little  of  your  history,  but  I 
know  as  much  as  this.  If  ever  a  man  deserved  the  fate 
from  which  he  flees,  your  husband  deserves  it." 

"  You  are  mad,"  she  faltered. 

"  No,  I  am  sane,"  he  went  on.  "  It  is  you  who  are  mad, 
not  to  have  understood.  Your  husband  goes  ever  in  fear 
of  his  life.  His  real  name  is  one  branded  with  ignominy 
throughout  the  world.  The  man  whom  you  have  married, 
to  whom  you  are  so  scrupulously  faithful,  is  the  man  who 
sent  your  father  to  death  and  your  brothers  to  Siberia." 

"  Father  Paul !  "  she  screamed. 

"  You  have  lived  with  him,  you  are  his  wife,"  Bernadine 
declared. 

The  color  had  left  her  cheeks ;  her  eyes,  with  their 
penciled  brows,  were  fixed  in  an  almost  ghastly  stare ;  her 
breath  was  coming  in  uneven  gasps.  She  looked  at  him 
in  silent  terror. 

"  It  is  not  true,"  she  cried  at  last;  "  it  cannot  be  true." 

"  Sophia,"  he  said,  "  you  can  prove  it  for  yourself.  I 
know  a  little  of  your  husband  and  his  doings.  Does  he 
not  carry  always  with  him  a  black  box  which  he  will  not 
allow  out  of  his  sight?  " 

"Always,"  she  assented.  "How 'did  you  know.^  By 
night  his  hand  rests  upon  it.  By  day,  if  he  goes  out,  it 
is  in  my  charge." 

"  Fetch  it  now,"  Bernadine  directed,  "  and  I  will  prove 
my  words." 

She  did  not  hesitate  for  a  moment.  She  disappeared  into 
the  inner  room ;  and  came  back,  only  a  few  moments  absent, 
carrying  in  her  hand  a  black  leather  despatch-box. . 

"  You  have  the  key  ?  "  he  asked. 


i 


i 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     255 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  looking  at  him  and  trembling, 
"  but  I  dare  not  —  oh,  I  dare  not  open  it !  " 

"  Sophia,"  he  said,  "  if  my  words  are  not  true,  I  will 
pass  out  of  your  life  for  always.  I  challenge  you.  If  you 
open  that  box  you  will  know  that  your  husband  is,  indeed, 
the  greatest  scoundrel  in  Europe." 

She  drew  a  key  from  a  gold  chain  around  her  neck. 

"  TheYe  are  two  locks,"  she  told  him.  "  The  other  is 
a  combination,  but  I  know  the  word.     Who's  that.''" 

She  started  suddenly.  There  was  a  loud  tapping  at  the 
door.  Bemadine  threw  an  antimacassar  half  over  the  box, 
but  he  was  too  late.  De  Grost  and  Hagon  had  crossed 
the  threshold.  The  woman  stood  like  some  dumb  creature, 
Hagon,  transfixed,  stood  with  his  eyes  riveted  upon  Ber- 
nadine.  His  face  was  distorted  with  passion,  he  seemed 
like  a  man  beside  himself  with  fury.  De  Grost  came  slowly 
forward  into  the  middle  of  the  room. 

"  Count  von  Hern,"  he  said,  "  I  think  that  you  had 
better  leave." 

The  woman  found  words. 

"  Not  yet,"  she  cried,  "  not  yet !  Paul,  listen  to  me. 
This  man  has  told  me  a  terrible  thing." 

The  breath  seemed  to  come  through  Hagon's  teeth  like 
a  hiss. 

"He  has  told  you!" 

"  Listen  to  me,"  she  continued.  "  It  is  the  truth  which 
you  must  tell  now.  He  says  that  you  —  you  are  Father 
Paul." 

Hagon  did  not  hesitate  for  a  second. 

"  It  is  true,"  he  admitted. 

Then  there  was  a  silence  —  short,  but  tragical.  Hagon 
seemed  suddenly  to  have  collapsed.  He  was  like  a  man 
who  has  just  had  a  stroke.  He  stood  muttering  to 
himself. 


256    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  It  is  the  end  —  this  —  the  end !  "  he  said,  in  a  low 
tone.     "  Sophia !  " 

She  shrank  away  from  him.  He  drew  himself  up. 
Once  more  the  great  light  flashed  in  his  face. 

"  It  was  for  your  sake,"  he  said  simply,  "  for  your 
sake,  Sophia.  I  came  to  you  poor  and  you  would  have 
nothing  to  say  to  me.  My  love  for  you  burned  in  my 
veins  like  fever.  It  was  for  you  I  did  it  —  for  your  sake 
I  sold  my  honor,  the  love  of  my  country,  the  freedom  of 
my  brothers.  For  your  sake  I  risked  an  awful  death.  For 
your  sake  I  have  lived  like  a  hunted  man,  with  the  cry 
of  the  wolves  always  in  my  ears,  and  the  fear  of  death 
and  of  eternal  torture  with  me  day  by  day.  No  other 
man  since  the  world  was  made  has  done  more.  Have  pity 
on  me !  " 

She  was  unmoved ;  her  face  had  lost  all  expression.  No 
one  noticed  in  that  rapt  moment  that  Bernadine  had  crept 
from  the  room. 

"  It  was  you,"  she  cried,  "  who  killed  my  father,  and  sent 
my  brothers  into  exile." 

"  God  help  me !  "  he  moaned. 

She  turned  to  De  Grost. 

"  Take  him  away  with  you,  please,"  she  said.  "  I  have 
finished  with  him." 

"  Sophia !  "  he  pleaded. 

She  leaned  across  the  table  and  struck  him  heavily  upon 
the  cheek. 

"  If  you  stay  here,"  she  muttered,  "  I  shall  kill  you 
myself  ..." 

That  night,  the  body  of  an  unknown  foreigner  was  found 
in  the  attic  of  a  cheap  lodging-house  in  Soho.  The  dis- 
covery itself  and  the  verdict  at  the  inquest  occupied  only 
a  few  lines  in  the  morning  newspapers.     Those  few  lines 


THE   MAN   FROM   THE   OLD   TESTAMENT     257 

were  the  epitaph  of  one  who  was  very  nearly  a  Ricnzi. 
The  greater  part  of  his  papers  De  Grost  mercifully  de- 
stroyed, but  one  in  particular  he  preserved.  Within  a  week 
the  much  delayed  treaty  was  signed  at  Paris,  London  and 
St.  Petersburg. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE     FIRST     SHOT 

De  Grost  and  his  wife  were  dining  together  at  the  corner 
table  in  a  fashionable  but  somewhat  Bohemian  restaurant. 
Both  had  been  in  the  humor  for  reminiscences,  and  they  had 
outstayed  most  of  their  neighbors. 

"  I  wonder  what  people  really  think  of  us,"  Violet  re- 
marked pensively.  "  I  told  Lady  Amershal,  when  she  asked 
us  to  go  there  this  evening,  that  we  always  dined  together 
alone  somewhere  once  a  week,  and  she  absolutely  refused 
to  believe  me.  *With  your  own  husband,  my  dear.'"  she 
kept  on  repeating." 

"  Her  Ladyship's  tastes  are  more  catholic,"  the  Baron 
declared  dryly.  "  Yet,  after  all,  Violet,  the  real  philosophy 
of  married  life  demands  something  of  this  sort." 

Violet  smiled  and  fingered  her  pearls  for  a  minute. 

"  What  the  real  philosophy  of  married  life  may  be  I 
do  not  know,"  she  said,  "  but  I  am  perfectly  content  with 
our  rendering  of  it.  What  a  fortunate  thing,  Peter,  with 
your  intensely  practical  turn  of  mind,  that  nature  endowed 
you  with  so  much  sentiment." 

Dc  Grost  gazed  reflectively  at  the  cigarette  which  he 
had  just  selected  from  his  case. 

"  Well,"  he  remarked,  "  there  have  been  times  when  I 
have  cursed  myself  for  a  fool,  but,  on  the  whole,  sentiment 
keeps  many  fires  burning." 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  259 

She  leaned  towards  him  and  dropped  her  voice  a  little. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  begged,  "  do  you  ever  think  of  the  years 
we  spent  together  in  the  country?    Do  you  ever  regret?  " 

He  smiled  thoughtfully. 

"  It  is  a  hard  question,  that,"  he  admitted.  "  There  were 
days  there  wliich  I  loved,  but  there  were  days,  too,  when 
the  restlessness  came,  da^^s  when  I  longed  to  hear  the  hum 
of  the  city  and  to  hear  men  speak  whose  words  were  of 
life  and  death  and  the  great  passions.  I  am  not  sure, 
Violet,  whether,  after  all,  it  is  well  for  one  who  has  lived 
to  withdraw  absolutely  from  the  thrill  of  life." 

She  laughed,  softly  but  gayly. 

"  I  am  with  you,"  she  declared,  "  absolutely.  I  think 
that  the  fairies  must  have  poured  into  my  blood  the  joy 
of  living  for  its  own  sake.  I  should  be  an  ungrateful  woman 
indeed,  if  I  found  anything  to  complain  of,  nowadays. 
Yet  there  is  one  thing  that  troubles  me,"  she  went  on, 
after  a  moment's  pause. 

"And  that?"  he  asked. 

"  The  danger,"  she  said,  slowly.  "  I  do  not  want  to 
lose  you,  Peter.     There  are  times  when  I  am  afraid." 

De  Grost  flicked  the  ash  from  his  cigarette. 

"  The  days  are  passing,"  he  remarked,  "  when  men  point 
revolvers  at  one  another,  and  hire  assassins  to  gain  their 
ends.  Now,  it  is  more  a  battle  of  wits.  We  play  chess 
on  the  board  of  Life  still,  but  we  play  with  ivory  pieces 
instead  of  steel  and  poison.  Our  brains  direct  and  not  our 
muscles." 

She  sighed. 

"  It  is  only  the  one  man  of  whom  I  am  afraid.  You  have 
outwitted  him  so  often  and  he  does  not  forgive." 

De  Grost  smiled.    It  was  an  immense  compliment  —  this. 

"  Bernadine,"  he  murmured,  softly,  "  otherwise,  our 
friend  the  Count  von  Hern." 


26o    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Bernadine !  "  she  repeated.  "  All  that  you  say  is  true, 
but  when  one  falls  with  modern  weapons,  one  changes  the 
form  of  attack.    Bernadine  at  heart  is  a  savage." 

"  The  hate  of  such  a  man,"  De  Grost  remarked  com- 
placently, "  is  worth  having.  He  has  had  his  own  way 
over  here  for  years.  He  seems  to  have  found  the  knack 
of  living  in  a  maze  of  intrigue  and  remaining  untouchable. 
There  were  a  dozen  things  before  I  came  upon  the  scene 
which  ought  to  have  ruined  him.  Yet  there  never  appeared 
to  be  anything  to  take  hold  of.  Even  the  Criminal  De- 
partment once  thought  they  had  a  chance.  I  remember 
John  Dory  telling  me  in  disgust  that  Bernadine  was  like 
one  of  those  marvelous  criminals  one  only  reads  about 
in  fiction,  who  seem,  when  they  pass  along  the  dangerous 
places,  to  walk  upon  the  air,  and  leave  no  trace  behind." 

"  Before  you  came,"  she  said,  "  he  had  never  known  a 
failure.    Do  you  think  that  he  is  a  man  likely  to  forgive?  " 

"I  do  not,"  De  Grost  answered  grimly.  "  It  is  a  battle, 
of  course,  a  battle  all  the  time.  Yet,  Violet,  between  you 
and  me,  if  Bernadine  were  to  go,  half  the  savor  of  life  for 
me  would  depart  with  him." 

Then  there  came  a  curious  and  wholly  unexpected  in- 
terruption. A  man  in  dark,  plain  clothes,  still  wearing  his 
overcoat,  and  carrying  a  bowler  hat,  had  been  standing  in 
the  entrance  of  the  restaurant  for  a  moment  or  two,  looking 
around  the  room  as  though  in  search  of  some  one.  At  last 
he  caught  the  eye  of  the  Baron  de  Grost  and  came  quickly 
toward  him. 

"  Charles,"  the  Baron  remarked,  raising  his  eyebrows. 
"  I  wonder  what  he  wants." 

A  sudden  cloud  had  fallen  upon  their  little  feast. 
Violet  watched  the  coming  of  her  husband's  servant,  and 
the  reading  of  the  note  which  he  presented  to  his  master, 
with  an  anxiety  which  she  could  not  wholly  conceal.     The 


THE   FIRST    SHOT  261 

Baron  read  the  note  twice,  scrutinizing  a  certain  part  of 
it  closely  with  the  aid  of  the  monocle  which  he  seldom  used. 
Then  he  folded  it  up  and  placed  it  in  the  breast  pocket  of 
his  coat. 

"  At  what  hour  did  you  receive  this,  Charles?  "  he  asked. 

"  A  messenger  brought  it  in  a  taxicab  about  ten  minutes 
ago,  sir,"  the  man  replied.  "  He  said  that  it  was  of  the 
utmost  importance,  and  that  I  had  better  try  and  find  you." 

"  A  district  messenger?  " 

"  A  man  in  ordinary  clothes,  sir,"  Charles  answered. 
"  He  looked  like  a  porter  in  a  warehouse,  or  something  of 
that  sort.  I  forgot  to  say  that  you  were  rung  up  on  the 
telephone  three  times  previously  by  Mr.  Greening." 

The  Baron  nodded. 

"  You  can  go,"  he  said.    "  There  is  no  reply." 

The  man  bowed  and  retired.  De  Grost  called  for  his 
bill. 

"  Is  it  anything  serious  ?  "  Violet  inquired. 

"  No,  not  exactly  serious,"  he  answered.  "  I  do  not  un- 
derstand what  has  happened,  but  they  have  sent  for  me  to 
go  —  well,  where  it  was  agreed  that  I  should  not  go  except 
as  a  matter  of  urgent  necessity  —  " 

Violet  knew  better  than  to  show  any  signs  of  disquietude. 

"  It  is  in  London?  "  she  asked. 

"  Certainly,"  her  husband  replied.  "  I  shall  take  a  taxi- 
cab  from  here.  I  am  sorry,  dear,  to  have  one  of  our  even- 
ings disturbed  in  this  manner.  I  have  always  done  my  best 
to  avoid  it,  but  this  summons  is  urgent." 

She  rose  and  he  wrapped  her  cloak  around  her. 

"  You  will  drive  straight  home,  won't  you?  "  he  begged. 
"  I  dare  say  that  I  may  be  back  within  an  hour  myself." 

"  And  if  not?  "  she  asked,  in  a  low  tone. 

"  If  not,  there  is  nothing  to  be  done." 

Violet  bit  her  lip,  but,  as  he  handed  her  into  the  small 


262     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

electric  brougham  which  was  waiting,  she  smiled  into  his 
face. 

"  You  will  come  back,  and  soon,  Peter,"  she  declared, 
confidently.  "  Wherever  you  go  I  am  sure  of  that.  You 
see,  I  have  faith  in  my  star  which  watches  over  you." 

He  kissed  her  fingers  and  turned  away.  The  commis- 
sionaire had  already  called  him  a  taxicab. 

"  To  London  Bridge,"  he  ordered,  after  a  moment's  hesi- 
tation, and  drove  ofif'. 

The  traffic  citywards  had  long  since  finished  for  the  day, 
and  he  reached  his  destination  within  ten  minutes  of  leaving 
the  restaurant.  Here  he  paid  the  man,  and,  entering  the 
station,  turned  to  the  refreshment  room  and  ordered  a 
liqueur  brandy.  While  he  sipped  it,  he  smoked  a  cigarette 
and  carefully  reread  in  a  strong  light  the  note  which  he 
had  received.  The  signature  especially  he  pored  over  for 
some  time.  At  last,  however,  he  replaced  It  In  his  pocket, 
paid  his  bill,  and,  stepping  out  once  more  on  to  the  plat- 
form, entered  a  telephone  booth.  A  few  minutes  later  he 
left  the  station,  and,  turning  to  the  right,  walked  slowly  as 
far  as  Tooley  Street.  Lie  kept  on  the  right-hand  side  until 
he  arrived  at  the  spot  where  the  great  arches,  with  their 
scanty  lights,  make  a  gloomy  thoroughfare  Into  Bermond- 
sey.  In  the  shadow  of  the  first  of  these  he  paused,  and 
looked  steadfastly  across  the  street.  There  were  few 
people  passing  and  practically  no  traffic.  In  front  of  him 
was  a  row  of  warehouses,  all  save  one  of  which  was  wrapped 
In  complete  darkness.  It  was  the  one  where  some  lights 
were  still  burning  which  De  Grost  stood  and  watched. 

The  lights,  such  as  they  were,  seemed  to  illuminate  the 
ground  floor  only.  From  his  hidden  post  he  could  see  the 
shoulders  of  a  man  apparently  bending  over  a  ledger,  dili- 
gently writing.  At  the  next  window  a  youth,  seated  upon 
a  tall  stool,  was  engaged  in  presumably  the  same  occupa- 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  263 

tion.  There  was  nothing  about  the  place  in  the  least  mys- 
terious or  out  of  the  way.  Even  the  blinds  of  the  offices 
had  been  left  undrawn.  The  man  and  the  boy,  who  were 
alone  visible,  seemed,  in  a  sense,  to  be  working  under  pro- 
test. Every  now  and  then  the  former  stopped  to  yawn, 
and  the  latter  performed  a  difficult  balancing  feat  upon  his 
stool.  De  Grost,  having  satisfied  his  curiosity,  came  pres- 
ently from  his  shelter,  almost  running  into  the  arms  of  a 
policeman,  who  looked  at  him  closely.  The  Baron,  who  had 
an  unlighted  cigarette  in  his  mouth,  stopped  to  ask  for  a 
light,  and  his  appearance  at  once  set  at  rest  any  suspicions 
the  policeman  might  have  had. 

"  I  have  a  warehouse  myself  down  in  these  parts,"  he 
remarked,  as  he  struck  the  match,  "  but  I  don't  allow  my 
people  to  work  as  late  as  that." 

He  pointed  across  the  way,  and  the  policeman  smiled. 

"  They  are  very  often  late  there,  sir,"  he  said.  "  It 's  a 
Continental  wine  business,  and  there  's  always  one  or  two 
of  them  over  time." 

"  It 's  bad  business,  all  the  same,"  De  Grost  declared 
pleasantly.    "  Good  night,  policeman !  " 

"  Good  night,  sir !  " 

De  Grost  crossed  the  road  diagonally,  as  though  about 
to  take  the  short  cut  across  London  Bridge,  but  as  soon 
as  the  policeman  was  out  of  sight  he  retraced  his  steps  to 
the  building  which  they  had  been  discussing,  and  turning 
the  battered  brass  handle  of  the  door,  walked  calmly  in. 
On  his  right  and  left  were  counting  houses  framed  with 
glass  ;  in  front,  the  cavernous  and  ugly  depths  of  a  gloomy 
warehouse.  He  knocked  upon  the  window-pane  on  the 
right  and  passed  forward  a  step  or  two,  as  though  to  enter 
the  office.  The  boy,  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  left-hand 
counting  house,  came  gliding  from  his  place,  passed  silently 
behind  the  visitor  and  turned  the  kev  of  the  outer  door. 


264    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

What  followed  seemed  to  happen  as  though  by  some  mys- 
teriously directed  force.  The  figures  of  men  came  stealing 
out  from  the  hidden  places.  The  clerk  who  had  been  work- 
ing so  hard  at  his  desk  calmly  divested  himself  of  a  false 
mustache  and  wig,  and,  assuming  a  more  familiar  appear- 
ance, strolled  out  into  the  warehouse.  De  Grost  looked 
around  him  with  absolutely  unruffled  composure.  He  was 
the  centre  of  a  little  circle  of  men,  respectably  dressed,  but 
every  one  of  them  hard-featured,  with  something  in  their 
faces  which  suggested  not  the  ordinary  toiler,  but  the  fight- 
ing animal  —  the  man  who  lives  by  his  wits  and  knows 
something  of  danger.  On  the  outskirts  of  the  circle  stood 
Bernadine. 

"  Really,"  De  Grost  declared,  "  this  is  most  unexpected. 
In  the  matter  of  dramatic  surprises,  my  friend  Bernadine, 
you  are  certainly  in  a  class  by  yourself." 

Bernadine  smiled. 

*'  You  will  understand,  of  course,"  he  said,  "  that  this 
little  entertainment  is  entirely  for  your  amusement  —  well 
stage-managed,  perhaps,  but  my  supers  are  not  to  be  taken 
seriously.  Since  you  are  here.  Baron,  might  I  ask  you  to 
precede  me  a  few  steps  to  the  tasting  office?  " 

"  By  all  means,"  De  Grost  answered  cheerfully.  "  It  is 
this  way,  I  believe." 

He  walked  with  unconcerned  footsteps  down  the  ware- 
house, on  either  side  of  which  were  great  bins  and  a  wilder- 
ness of  racking,  until  he  came  to  a  small,  glass-enclosed 
office,  built  out  from  the  wall.  Without  hesitation  he 
entered  it,  and  removing  his  hat,  selected  the  more  com- 
fortable of  the  two  chairs.  Bernadine  alone  of  the  others 
followed  him  inside,  closing  the  door  behind.  De  Grost, 
who  appeared  exceedingly  comfortable,  stretched  out  his 
hand  and  took  a  small  black  bottle  from  a  tiny  mahogany 
racking  fixed  against  the  wall  by  his  side. 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  265 

"  You  will  excuse  me,  my  dear  Bernadlne,"  he  said,  "  but 
I  see  my  friend  Greening  has  been  tasting  a  few  wines.  The 
*  XX '  upon  the  label  here  signifies  approval.  With  your 
permission." 

He  half  filled  a  glass  and  pushed  the  bottle  toward 
Bernadine. 

"  Greening's  taste  is  unimpeachable,"  De  Grost  declared, 
setting  down  his  glass  empty.  "  No  use  being  a  director  of 
a  city  business,  you  know,  unless  one  interests  oneself 
personally  in  it.  Greening's  judgment  is  simply  marvelous. 
I  have  never  tasted  a  more  beautiful  wine.  If  the  boom  in 
sherry  does  come,"  he  continued  complacently,  "  we  shall 
be  in  an  excellent  position  to  deal  with  it." 

Bernadine  laughed  softly. 

"  Oh,  my  friend  —  Peter  Ruff,  or  Baron  de  Grost,  or 
whatever  you  may  choose  to  call  yourself,"  he  said,  "  I  am 
indeed  wise  to  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  you  and  I 
are  too  big  to  occupy  the  same  little  spot  on  earth !  " 

De  Grost  nodded  approvingly. 

"  I  was  beginning  to  wonder,"  he  remarked,  "  whether 
you  would  not  soon  arrive  at  that  decision." 

"  Having  arrived  at  it,"  Bernadine  continued,  looking 
intently  at  his  companion,  "  the  logical  sequence  naturally 
occurs  to  you." 

"  Precisely,  my  dear  Bernadine,"  De  Grost  asserted. 
"  You  say  to  yourself,  no  doubt,  '  One  of  us  two  must  go ! ' 
Being  yourself,  you  would  naturally  conclude  that  it  must 
be  I.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  have  been  expecting  some  sort 
of  enterprise  of  this  description  for  a  considerable  time." 

Bernadine  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Your  expectations,"  he  said,  "  seem  scarcely  to  have 
provided  you  with  a  safe  conduct." 

De  Grost  gazed  reflectively  into  his  empty  glass. 

"  You  see,"  he  explained,  "  I  am  such  a  lucky  person. 


266    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Your  arrangements  to-night,  however,  are,  I  perceive, 
unusually  complete." 

"I  am  glad  you  appreciate  them,"  Bernadine  remarked 
dryly. 

"  I  would  not  for  a  moment,"  De  Grost  continued,  "  ask 
an  impertinent  or  an  unnecessary  question,  but  I  must 
confess  that  I  am  rather  concerned  to  know  the  fate  of  my 
manager  —  the  gentleman  whom  you  yourself  with  the  aid, 
I  presume,  of  Mr.  Clarkson,  so  ably  represented." 

Bernadine  sighed. 

"  Alas !  "  he  said,  "  your  manager  was  a  very  obstinate 
j)erson." 

"And  my  clerk.?  " 

*'  Incorruptible,  absolutely  incorruptible.  I  congratulate 
you,  De  Grost.  Your  society  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
upon  the  face  of  this  earth.  I  know  little  about  it,  but  my 
admiration  is  very  sincere.  Their  attention  to  details,  and 
the  personnel  of  their  staff,  is  almost  perfect.  I  may  tell 
you  at  once  that  no  sum  that  could  be  offered,  tempted 
either  of  these  men." 

"  I  am  delighted  to  hear  it,"  De  Grost  replied,  "  but  I 
must  plead  guilty  to  a  little  temporary  anxiety  as  to  their 
present  whereabouts." 

"  At  this  moment,"  Bernadine  remarked,  "  they  are 
within  a  few  feet  of  us,  but,  as  you  are  doubtless  aware, 
access  to  your  delightful  river  is  obtainable  from  these 
premises.  To  be  frank  with  you,  my  dear  Baron,  we  are 
waiting  for  the  tide  to  rise." 

"  So  thoughtful  about  these  trifles,"  De  Grost  mur- 
mured. "But  their  present  position.''  They  are,  I  trust, 
not  uncomfortable?  " 

Bernadine  stood  up  and  moved  to  the  further  end  of  the 
office.  He  beckoned  his  companion  to  his  side  and,  drawing 
an  electric  torch  from  his  pocket,  flashed  the  light  into  a 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  267 

dark  corner  behind  an  immense  bin.  The  forms  of  a  man 
and  a  youth,  bound  with  ropes  and  gagged,  lay  sti  etched 
upon  the  floor.    De  Grost  sighed. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  said,  "  that  Mr.  Greening,  at  any  rate, 
is  most  uncomfortable." 

Bernadine  turned  off  the  light. 

"  At  least.  Baron,"  he  declared,  "  if  such  extreme  meas- 
ures should  become  necessary,  I  can  promise  you  one  thing  — 
you  shall  have  a  quicker  passage  into  Eternity  than  they." 

De  Grost  resumed  his  seat. 

"  Has  it  really  come  to  that?  "  he  asked.  "  Will  nothing 
but  so  crude  a  proceeding  as  my  absolute  removal  satisfy 
you.?" 

"  Nothing  else  is,  I  fear,  practicable,"  Bernadine  replied, 
"  unless  you  decide  to  listen  to  reason.  Believe  me,  my  dear 
friend,  I  shall  miss  you  and  our  small  encounters  exceed- 
ingly, but,  unfortunately,  you  stand  in  the  way  of  my 
career.  You  are  the  only  man  who  has  persistently  balked 
me.  You  have  driven  me  to  use  against  you  means  which 
I  had  grown  to  look  upon  as  absolutely  extinct  in  the  upper 
circles  of  our  profession." 

De  Grost  peered  through  the  glass  walls  of  the  office. 

"  Eight  men,  not  counting  yourself,"  he  remarked,  "  and 
my  poor  manager  and  his  faithful  clerk  lying  bound  and 
helpless.     It  is  heavy  odds,  Bernadine." 

"  There  is  no  question  of  odds,  I  think,"  Bernadine  an- 
swered smoothly.  "  You  are  much  too  clever  a  person  to 
refuse  to  admit  that  you  are  entirely  in  my  power." 

"  And  as  regards  terms .''  I  really  don't  feel  in  the  least 
anxious  to  make  my  final  bow  with  so  little  notice,"  De  Grost 
said.  "  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  have  been  finding  life  quite 
interesting  lately." 

Bernadine  eyed  his  prisoner  keenly.  Such  absolute  com- 
posure was  in  itself  disturbing.     He  was,  for  the  moment, 


268     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

aware  of  a  slight  sensation  of  uneasiness,  which  his  com- 
mon sense,  however,  speedily  disposed  of. 

"  There  are  two  ways,"  he  announced,  "  of  dealing  with 
an  opponent.  There  is  the  old-fashioned  one  —  crude,  but 
in  a  sense  eminently  satisfactory  —  which  sends  him  finally 
to  adorn  some  other  sphere." 

"  I  don't  like  that  one,"  De  Grost  interrupted.  "  Get 
on  with  the  alternative." 

"  The  alternative,"  Bernadine  declared,  "  is  when  his 
capacity  for  harm  can  be  destroyed." 

"  That  needs  a  little  explanation,"  De  Grost  murmured. 

"  Precisely.  For  instance,  if  you  were  to  become  abso- 
lutely discredited,  I  think  that  you  would  be  effectually  out 
of  my  way.    Your  people  do  not  forgive." 

"  Then  discredit  me,  by  all  means,"  De  Grost  begged. 
"  It  sounds  unpleasant,  but  I  do  not  like  your  callous 
reference  to  the  river." 

Bernadine  gazed  at  his  ancient  opponent  for  several 
moments.  After  all,  what  was  this  but  the  splendid  bra- 
vado of  a  beaten  man,  who  is  too  clever  not  to  recognize 
defeat  .f* 

"  I  shall  require,"  he  said,  "  your  code,  the  keys  of  your 
safe,  which  contains  a  great  many  documents  of  interest 
to  me,  and  a  free  entry  into  your  house." 

De  Grost  drew  a  bunch  of  keys  reluctantly  from  his 
pocket  and  laid  them  upon  the  desk. 

"  You  will  find  the  code  bound  in  green  morocco  leather," 
he  announced,  "  on  the  left-hand  side,  underneath  the 
duplicate  of  a  proposed  Treaty  between  Italy  and  — 
some  other  PoAver.  Between  ourselves,  Bernadine,  I 
really  expect  that  that  is  what  you  are  after." 

Bernadine's  eyes  glistened. 

"What  about  the  safe  conduct  into  your  house.''"  he 
asked. 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  269 

De  Grost  drew  his  case  from  his  pocket  and  wrote  a 
few  lines  on  the  back  of  one  of  his  cards. 

"  This  will  insure  you  entrance  there,"  he  said,  "  and 
access  to  my  study.  If  you  see  my  wife,  please  reassure 
her  as  to  my  absence." 

"  I  shall  certainly  do  so,"  Bernadine  agreed,  with  a  faint 
smile. 

"  If  I  may  be  pardoned  for  alluding  to  a  purely  personal 
matter,"  De  Grost  continued,  "  what  is  to  become  of 
me.?" 

"You  will  be  bound  and  gagged  in  the  same  manner  as 
your  manager  and  his  clerk,"  Bernadine  replied,  smoothly. 
"  I  regret  the  necessity,  but  you  see,  I  can  afford  to  run 
no  risks.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  you  will  be 
released.  It  must  be  part  of  our  agreement  that  you  allow 
the  man  who  stays  behind  the  others  for  the  purpose 
of  setting  you  free,  to  depart  unmolested.  I  think  I  know 
you  better  than  to  imagine  you  would  be  guilty  of  such 
gaucherie  as  an  appeal  to  the  police." 

"  That,  unfortunately,"  De  Grost  declared,  with  a  little 
sigh,  "  is,  as  you  well  know,  out  of  the  question.  You  are 
too  clever  for  me,  Bernadine.  After  all,  I  shall  have  to  go 
back  to  my  farm." 

Bernadine  opened  the  door  and  called  softly  to  one  of 
his  men.  In  less  than  five  minutes  De  Grost  was  bound 
hand  and  foot.  Bernadine  stepped  back  and  eyed  his  ad- 
versary with  an  air  of  ill-disguised  triumph. 

"  I  trust.  Baron,"  he  said,  "  that  you  will  be  as  com- 
fortable as  possible,  under  the  circumstances." 

De  Grost  lay  quite  still.  He  was  powerless  to  move  or 
speak. 

"  Immediately,"  Bernadine  continued,  "  I  have  presented 
myself  at  your  house,  verified  your  safe  conduct,  and  helped 
myself  to  certain  papers  which  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  to 


270     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

obtain,"  he  went  on,  "  I  shall  telephone  here  to  the  man 
whom  I  leave  in  charge  and  you  will  be  set  at  liberty  in  due 
course.  If,  for  any  reason,  I  meet  with  treachery  and  I 
do  not  telephone,  you  will  join  Mr.  Greening  and  his 
young  companion  in  a  little  —  shall  we  call  it  aquatic 
recreation?  I  wish  you  a  pleasant  hour  and  success  in 
the  future.  Baron  —  as  a  farmer." 

Bernadine  withdrew  and  whispered  his  orders  to  his 
men.  Soon  the  electric  light  was  turned  out  and  the  place 
was  in  darkness.  The  front  door  was  opened  and  closed; 
the  group  of  confederates  upon  the  pavement  lit  cigarettes 
and  wished  one  another  good  night  with  the  brisk  air  of 
tired  employees,  released  at  last  from  long  labors.  Then 
there  was  silence. 

It  was  barely  eleven  o'clock  when  Bernadine  reached  the 
west  end  of  London.  His  clothes  had  become  a  trifle  dis- 
arranged and  he  called  for  a  few  minutes  at  his  rooms 
in  St.  James's  Street.  Afterwards,  he  walked  to  Por- 
chester  House  and  rang  the  bell.  To  the  servant  who 
answered  it,  he  handed  his  master's  card. 

"  Will  you  show  me  the  way  to  the  library.?  "  he  asked. 
"  I  have  some  papers  to  collect  for  the  Baron  de  Grost." 

The  man  hesitated.  Even  with  the  card  in  his  hand, 
it  seemed  a  somewhat  unusual  proceeding. 

"  Will  you  step  inside,  sir?  "  he  begged.  "  I  should 
like  to  show  this  to  the  Baroness.  The  master  is  exceed- 
ingly particular  about  any  one  entering  his  study." 

"  Do  what  you  like  so  long  as  you  do  not  keep  me  wait- 
ing," Bernadine  replied.  "  Your  master's  instructions  are 
clear  enough." 

Violet  came  down  the  great  staircase  a  few  moments 
later,  still  in  her  dinner  gown,  her  face  a  little  pale,  her 
eyes    luminous.      Bernadine    smiled    as    he    accepted    her 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  271 

eagerly  offered  hand.  She  was  evidently  anxious.  A  thrill 
of  triumph  warmed  his  blood.  Once  she  had  been  less  kind 
to  him  than  she  seemed  now. 

"  My  husband  gave  you  this !  "  she  exclaimed. 

"  A  few  minutes  ago,"  Bernadine  answered.  "  He  tried 
to  make  his  instructions  as  clear  as  possible.  We  are 
jointly  interested  in  a  small  matter  which  needs  immediate 
action." 

She  led  the  way  to  the  study. 

"  It  seems  strange,"  she  remarked,  "  that  you  and  he 
should  be  working  together.  I  always  thought  that  you 
were  on  opposite  sides." 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  chance,"  Bernadine  told  her.  "  Your 
husband  is  a  wise  man,  Baroness.  He  knows  when  to  listen 
to    reason." 

She  threw  open  the  door  of  the  study,  which  was  in 
darkness. 

"  If  you  will  wait  a  moment,"  she  said,  closing  the  door, 
"  I  will  turn  on  the  electric  light." 

She  touched  the  knobs  in  the  wall  and  the  room  was 
suddenly  flooded  with  illumination.  At  the  further  end  of 
the  apartment  was  the  great  safe.  Close  to  it,  in  an  easy- 
chair,  his  evening  coat  changed  for  a  smoking  jacket,  with 
a  neatly  tied  black  tie  replacing  his  crumpled  white  cravat, 
the  Baron  de  Grost  sat  awaiting  his  guest.  A  fierce  oath 
broke  from  Bernadine's  lips.  He  turned  toward  the  door 
only  in  time  to  hear  the  key  turn.  Violet  tossed  it  lightly 
in  the  air  across  to  her  husband. 

"  My  dear  Bernadine,"  the  latter  remarked,  "  on  the 
whole,  I  do  not  think  that  this  has  been  one  of  your  suc- 
cesses.    My  keys,  if  you  please." 

Bernadine  stood  for  a  moment,  his  face  dark  with  pas- 
sion. He  bit  his  lip  till  the  blood  came,  and  the  veins  at 
the  back  of  his  clenched  hands  were  swollen  and  thick. 


272     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Nevertheless,  when  he  spoke  he  had  recovered  in  great 
measure  his  self-controh 

"  Your  keys  are  here,  Baron  de  Grost,"  he  said,  placing 
them  upon  the  table,  "  If  a  bungling  amateur  may  make 
such  a  request  of  a  professor,  may  I  inquire  how  you  es- 
caped from  your  bonds,  passed  through  the  door  of  a 
locked  warehouse  and  reached  here  before  me  ?  " 

The  Baron  de  Grost  smiled  as  he  pushed  the  cigarettes 
across  to  his  visitor. 

"  Really,"  he  said,  "  you  have  only  to  think  for  yourself 
for  a  moment,  my  dear  Bernadine,  and  you  will  understand. 
In  the  first  place,  the  letter  you  sent  me  signed  '  Greening ' 
was  clearly  a  forgery.  There  was  no  one  else  anxious  to 
get  me  into  their  power,  hence  I  associated  it  at  once  with 
you.  Naturally,  I  telephoned  to  the  chief  of  my  staff  — 
I,  too,  am  obliged  to  employ  some  of  these  un-uniformed 
policemen,  my  dear  Bernadine,  as  you  may  be  aware.  It 
may  interest  you  to  know,  further,  that  there  are  seven 
entrances  to  the  warehouse  in  Tooley  Street.  Through 
one  of  these  something  like  twenty  of  my  men  passed  and 
were  already  concealed  in  the  place  when  I  entered.  At 
another  of  the  doors  a  motor-car  waited  for  me.  If  I  had 
chosen  to  lift  my  finger  at  any  time,  your  men  would  have 
been  overpowered  and  I  might  have  had  the  pleasure  of 
dictating  terms  to  you  in  my  own  office.  Such  a  course 
did  not  appeal  to  me.  You  and  I,  as  you  know,  dear 
Count  von  Hern,  conduct  our  peculiar  business  under  very 
delicate  conditions,  and  the  least  thing  we  either  of  us 
desire  is  notoriety.  I  managed  things,  as  I  thought,  for 
the  best.  The  moment  you  left  the  place  my  men  swarmed 
in.  We  kindly,  but  gently,  ejected  your  guard,  released 
Greening  and  my  clerk,  and  I  passed  you  myself  in  Fleet 
Street,  a  little  more  comfortable,  I  think,  in  my  forty- 
horsepower  motor-car  than  you  in  that  very  disreputable 


THE    FIRST    SHOT  273 

liansom.  As  to  my  presence  here,  I  have  an  entrance  from 
the  street  there  which  makes  me  independent  of  my 
servants.  The  other  details  are  too  absurdly  simple ;  one 
need  not  enlarge  upon  them." 

Bernadine  turned  slowly  to  Violet. 

"  You  knew.?  "  he  muttered.  "  You  knew  when  you 
brought  me  here.^"' 

"  Naturally,"  she  answered.  "  We  have  telephones  in 
every  room  in  the  house." 

"  I  am  at  your  service,"  Bernadine  declared,  calmly. 

De  Grost  laughed. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  he  said,  "  need  I  say  that  you  are 
free  to  come  or  go,  to  take  a  whiskey  and  soda  with  me, 
or  to  depart  at  once,  exactly  as  you  feel  inclined.''  The 
door  was  locked  only  until  you  restored  to  me  my  keys." 

He  crossed  the  room,  fitted  the  key  in  the  lock  and 
turned  it. 

"  We  do  not  make  war  as  those  others,"  he  remarked, 
smiling. 

Bernadine  drew  himself  up. 

"  I  will  not  drink  with  you,"  he  said,  "  I  will  not  smoke 
■with  you.     But  some  day  this  reckoning  shall  come." 

He  turned  to  the  door.  De  Grost  laid  his  finger  upon 
the  bell. 

"  Show  Count  von  Hern  out,"  he  directed  the  astonished 
servant  who  appeared  a  moment  or  two  later. 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE    SEVEN    SUPPERS    OF    ANDREA    KORUST 

Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  was  enjoying  what  he  had  con- 
fidently looked  forward  to  as  an  evening's  relaxation,  pure 
and  simple.  He  sat  in  one  of  the  front  rows  of  the  stalls 
of  the  Alhambra,  his  wife  by  his  side  and  an  excellent  cigar 
in  his  mouth.  An  hour  or  so  ago  he  had  been  in  telephonic 
communication  with  Paris,  had  spoken  with  Sogrange  him- 
self, and  received  his  assurance  of  a  calm  in  political  and 
criminal  affairs  amounting  almost  to  stagnation.  It  was 
out  of  season,  and,  though  his  popularity  was  as  great  as 
ever,  neither  he  nor  his  wife  had  any  social  engagements ; 
hence  this  evening  at  a  music  hall,  which  Peter,  for  his 
part,  was  finding  thoroughly  amusing. 

The  place  was  packed  —  some  said  owing  to  the  engage- 
ment of  Andrea  Korust  and  his  brother,  others  to  the 
presence  of  Mademoiselle  Sophie  Celaire  in  her  wonderful 
danse  des  apaches.  The  violinist  that  night  had  a  great 
reception.  Three  times  he  was  called  before  the  curtain; 
three  times  he  was  obliged  to  reiterate  his  grateful  but 
immutable  resolve  never  to  yield  to  the  nightly  storm 
which  demanded  more  from  a  man  who  has  given  of  his 
best.  Slim,  with  the  worn  face  and  hollow  eyes  of  a  genius, 
he  stood  and  bowed  his  thanks,  but  when  he  thought  the 
time  had  arrived,  he  disappeared,  and  though  the  house 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   275 

shook  for  minutes  afterwards,  nothing  could  persuade  him 
to  reappear. 

Afterwards  came  the  turn  which,  notwithstanding  the 
furore  caused  by  Andrea  Korust's  appearance,  was  gener- 
ally considered  to  be  equally  responsible  for  the  packed 
house  —  the  apache  dance  of  Mademoiselle  Sophie  Celaire. 
Peter  sat  slightly  forward  in  his  chair  as  the  curtain  went 
up.  For  a  time  he  seemed  utterly  absorbed  by  the  per- 
formance. Violet  glanced  at  him  once  or  twice  curiously. 
It  began  to  occur  to  her  that  it  was  not  so  much  the  dance 
as  the  dancer  in  whom  her  husband  was  interested. 

"  You  have  seen  her  before  —  this  Mademoiselle  Ce- 
laire? "  she  whispered. 

"  Yes,"  said  Peter,  nodding,  "  I  have  seen  her  before." 

The  dance  proceeded.  It  was  like  many  others  of  its 
sort,  only  a  little  more  daring,  a  little  more  finished. 
Mademoiselle  Celaire,  in  her  tight-fitting,  shabby  black 
frock,  with  her  wild  mass  of  hair,,  her  flashing  eyes,  her 
seductive  gestures,  was,  without  doubt,  a  marvelous  person. 
Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  watched  her  every  movement  with 
absorbed  attention.  When  the  curtain  went  down  he  forgot 
to  clap.  His  eyes  followed  her  off  the  stage.  Violet 
shrugged  her  shoulders.  She  was  looking  very  handsome 
herself  in  a  black  velvet  dinner  gown,  and  a  hat  so  ex- 
ceedingly Parisian  that  no  one  had  had  the  heart  to  ask 
her  to  remove  it. 

"  My  dear  Peter,"  she  remarked,  reprovingly,  "  a  mod- 
erate amount  of  admiration  for  that  very  agile  young  lady 
I  might,  perhaps,  be  inclined  to  tolerate;  but,  having 
watched  you  for  the  last  quarter  of  an  hour,  I  am  bound 
to  confess  that  I  am  becoming  jealous." 

"  Of  Mademoiselle  Celaire?  "  he  asked. 

"  Of  Mademoiselle  Sophie  Celaire." 

He  leaned  a  little  towards  her.     His  lips  were  parted; 


276     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

he  was  about  to  make  a  statement  or  a  confession.  Just 
then  a  tall  commissionaire  leaned  over  from  behind  and 
touched  him  on  the  shoulder. 

"  For  Monsieur  le  Baron  de  Grost,"  he  announced, 
handing  Peter  a  note. 

Peter  glanced  towards  his  wife. 

"  You  permit  me  ?  "  he  murmured,  breaking  the  seal. 

Violet  shrugged  her  shoulders,  ever  so  slightly.  Her 
husband  was  already  absorbed  in  the  few  lines  hastily 
scrawled  across  the  sheet  of  notepaper  which  he  held  in  his 
hand. 

4 Monsieur  le  Baeon  de  Grost.  ^ 

Dear  Monsieur  le  Baron,  ^m 

Come  to  my  dressing-room,  without  fail,   as  ^^^L 
soon  as  you  receive  this.  ^^^T 

Sophie  Celaiee. 

Violet  looked  over  his  shoulder. 

"  The  hussy !  "  she  exclaimed,  indignantly. 

Her  husband  raised  his  eyebrows.  With  his  forefinger 
he  merely  tapped  the  two  numerals. 

"  The  Double-Four !  "  she  gasped. 

He  looked  around  and  nodded.  The  commissionaire  was 
waiting.    Peter  took  up  his  silk  hat  from  under  the  seat. 

"  If  I  am  detained,  dear,"  he  whispered,  "  you  '11 
make  the  best  of  it,  won't  you?  The  car  will  be  here  and 
Frederick  will  be  looking  out  for  you." 

"  Of  course,"  she  answered,  cheerfully.  "  I  shall  be 
quite  all  right."  ' 

She  nodded  brightly  and  Peter  took  his  departure.  He 
passed  through  a  door  on  which  was  painted  "  Private," 
and  through  a  maze  of  scenery  and  stage  hands  and  ballet 
ladies  by  a  devious  route  to  the  region  of  the  dressing- 
rooms.  His  guide  conducted  him  to  the  door  of  one  of 
these  and  knocked. 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   277 

"  Entrez,  monsieur,"  a  shrill  feminine  voice  replied. 

Peter  entered  and  closed  the  door  behind  him.  The 
commissionaire  remained  outside.  Mademoiselle  Celaire 
turned  to  greet  her  visitor. 

"  It  is  a  few  words  I  desire  with  you  as  quickly  as 
possible,  if  you  please.  Monsieur  le  Baron,"  she  said, 
advancing  towards  him.      "  Listen." 

She  had  brushed  out  her  hair  and  it  hung  from  her 
head  straight  and  a  little  stiff,  almost  like  the  hair  of  an 
Indian  woman.  She  had  washed  her  face,  too,  free  of  all 
cosmetics  and  her  pallor  was  almost  waxen.  She  wore  a 
dressing  gown  of  green  silk.  Her  discarded  black  frock 
lay  upon  the  floor. 

"  I  am  entirely  at  your  service,  mademoiselle,"  Peter 
answered,  bowing.     "  Continue,  if  you  please." 

"  You  sup  with  me  to-night  —  you  are  my  guest." 

He  hesitated. 

"  I  am  very  much  honored,"  he  murmured.  "  It  is  an 
affair  of  urgency,  then?  Mademoiselle  will  remember  that 
I  am  not  alone  here." 

She  threw  out  her  hands  scornfully. 

"  They  told  me  in  Paris  that  you  were  a  genius !  "  she 
exclaimed.  "  Cannot  you  feel,  then,  when  a  thing  is  urgent.'* 
Do  you  not  know  it  without  being  told  ?  You  must  meet  me 
with  a  carriage  at  the  stage  door  in  forty  minutes.  We 
sup  in  Hamilton  Place  with  Andrea  Korust  and  his 
brother." 

"With  whom.''  "  Peter  asked,  surprised. 

"  With  the  Korust  Brothers,"  she  repeated.  "  I  have 
just  been  talking  to  Andrea.  He  calls  himself  a  Hun- 
garian. Bah !  They  are  as  much  Hungarian,  those  young 
men,  as  I  am !  " 

Peter  leaned  slightly  against  the  table  and  looked 
thoughtfully  at  his  companion.     He  was  trying  to  remem- 


278     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

ber  whether  he  had  ever  heard  anything  of  these  young 
men. 

"  Mademoiselle,"  he  said,  "  the  prospect  of  partaking 
of  any  meal  in  your  company  is  in  itself  enchanting,  but 
I  do  not  know  your  friends,  the  Korust  Brothers.  Apart 
from  their  wonderful  music,  I  do  not  recollect  ever  having 
heard  of  them  before  in  my  life.  What  excuse  have  I, 
then,  for  accepting  their  hospitality.''  Pardon  me,  too, 
if  I  add  that  you  have  not  as  yet  spoken  as  to  the  urgency 
of  this  affair." 

She  turned  from  him  impatiently  and,  throwing  herself 
back  into  the  chair  from  which  she  had  risen  at  his  en- 
trance, she  began  to  exchange  the  thick  woolen  stockings 
which  she  had  been  wearing  upon  the  stage  for  others  of 
fine  silk. 

"  Oh,  la,  la !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  You  are  very  slow, 
Monsieur  le  Baron.  It  is,  perhaps,  my  stage  name  which 
has  misled  you.  I  am  Marie  Lapouse.  Does  that  convey 
anything  to  you.''  " 

"  A  great  deal,"  Peter  admitted,  quickly.  "  You  stand 
very  high  upon  the  list  of  my  agents  whom  I  may  trust." 

"  Then  stay  here  no  longer,"  she  begged,  "  for  my  maid 
waits  outside  and  I  need  her  services.  Go  back  and  make 
your  excuses  to  your  wife.  In  forty  minutes  I  shall  ex- 
pect you  at  the  stage  door." 

"An  affair  of  diplomacy,  this,  or  brute  force  .f*  "  he 
inquired. 

"  Heaven  knows  what  may  happen  !  "  she  replied.  "  To 
teU  you  the  truth,  I  do  not  know  myself.  Be  prepared 
for  anything,  but,  for  Heaven's  sake,  go  now !  I  can  dress 
no  further  without  my  maid,  and  Andrea  Korust  may 
come  in  at  any  moment.    I  do  not  wish  him  to  find  you  here." 

Peter  made  his  way  thoughtfully  back  to  his  seat.  He 
explained  the  situation  to  his  wife  so  far  as  he  could,  and 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST  279 

sent  her  home.  Then  he  waited  about  until  the  car  re- 
turned, smoking  a  cigarette  and  trying  once  more  to  re- 
member if  he  had  ever  heard  anything  from  Sogrange  of 
Andrea  Korust  or  his  brother.  Punctually  at  the  time 
stated  he  was  outside  the  stage  door  of  the  music-hall, 
and  a  few  minutes  later  Mademoiselle  Celaire  appeared, 
a  dazzling  vision  of  fur  and  smiles  and  jewelry  imperfectly 
concealed.  A  small  crowd  pressed  around  to  see  the  famous 
Frenchwoman.  Peter  handed  her  gravely  across  the  pave- 
ment into  his  waiting  car.  One  or  two  of  the  loungers 
gave  vent  to  a  groan  of  envy  at  the  sight  of  the  diamonds 
which  blazed  from  her  neck  and  bosom.  Peter  smiled 
as  he  gave  the  address  to  his  servant  and  took  his  place 
by  the  side  of  his  companion. 

"  They  see  only  the  externals,  this  mob,"  he  remarked. 
*'  They  picture  to  themselves,  perhaps,  a  little  supper  for 
two.     Alas !  " 

Mademoiselle  Celaire  laughed  at  him  softly. 

"  You  need  not  trouble  to  assume  that  most  disconso- 
late of  expressions,  my  dear  Baron,"  she  assured  him. 
*'  Your  reputation  as  a  man  of  gallantry  is  beyond  ques- 
tion; but  remember  that  I  know  you  also  for  the  most 
devoted  and  loyal  of  husbands.  We  waste  no  time  in  folly, 
you  and  I.     It  is  the  business  of  the  Double-Four." 

Peter  was  relieved,  but  his  innate  politeness  forbade  his 
showing  it. 

"  Proceed,"  he  said. 

"  The  Brothers  Korust,"  she  went  on,  leaning  towards 
him,  "  have  a  week's  engagement  at  the  Alhambra.  Their 
salary  is  six  hundred  pounds.  They  play  very  beautifully, 
of  course,  but  I  think  that  it  is  as  much  as  they  are  worth." 

Peter  agreed  with  her  fervently.  He  had  no  soul  for 
music. 

*'  They  have  taken  the  furnished  house  belonging  to  one 


28o     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

of  your  dukes,  in  Hamilton  Place,  for  which  we  are  now 
bound;  taken  it,  too,  at  a  fabulous  rent,"  Mademoiselle 
Celaire  continued.  "  They  have  installed  there  a  chef  and 
a  whole  retinue  of  servants.  They  are  here  for  seven 
nights ;  they  have  issued  invitations  for  seven  supper 
parties." 

"  Hospitable  young  men  they  seem  to  be,"  Peter  mur- 
mured. "  I  read  in  one  of  the  stage  papers  that  Andrea 
is  a  Count  in  his  own  country,  and  that  they  perform  in 
public  only  for  the  love  of  their  music  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  excitement  and  travel." 

"  A  paragraph  wholly  inspired  and  utterly  false,"  Mad- 
emoiselle Celaire  declared,  firmly,  sitting  a  little  forward 
in  the  car,  and  laying  her  hand,  ablaze  with  jewels,  upon 
his  coat  sleeve.  "  Listen.  They  call  themselves  Hun- 
garians. Bah!  I  know  that  they  are  in  touch  with  a 
great  European  court,  both  of  them,  the  court  of  the 
country  to  which  they  belong.  They  have  plans,  plans  and 
schemes  connected  with  their  visit  here,  which  I  do  not 
understand.  I  have  done  my  best  with  Andrea  Korust, 
but  he  is  not  a  man  to  be  trusted.  I  know  that  there  is 
something  more  in  these  seven  supper  parties  than  idle 
hospitality.  I  and  others  like  me,  artistes  and  musicians, 
are  invited,  to  give  the  assembly  a  properly  Bohemian  tone ; 
but  there  are  to  be  other  guests,  attracted  there,  no  doubt, 
because  the  papers  have  spoken  of  these  gatherings." 

"  You  have  some  idea  of  what  it  all  means,  in  your 
mind.'*  "  Peter  suggested. 

"  It  is  too  vague  to  put  into  words,"  she  declared, 
shaking  her  head.  "  We  must  both  watch.  Afterwards, 
we  will,  if  you  like,  compare  notes." 

The  car  drew  up  before  the  doors  of  a  handsome  house 
in  Hamilton  Place.  A  footman  received  Peter  and  relieved 
him  of  his  hat  and  overcoat.     A  trim  maid  performed  the 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   281 

same  office  for  Mademoiselle  Celaire.  They  met,  a  moment 
or  two  later,  and  were  ushered  into  a  large  drawing-room 
in  which  a  dozen  or  two  of  men  and  women  were  already 
assembled,  and  from  which  came  a  pleasant  murmur  of 
voices  and  laughter.  The  apartment  was  hung  with  pale 
green  satin ;  the  furniture  was  mostly  Chippendale,  up- 
holstered in  the  same  shade.  A  magnificent  grand  piano 
stood  open  in  a  smaller  room,  just  visible  beyond.  Only 
one  thing  seemed  strange  to  the  two  newly  arrived  guests. 
The  room  was  entirely  lit  with  shaded  candles,  giving  a 
certain  mysterious  but  not  unpleasant  air  of  obscurity  to 
the  whole  suite  of  apartments.  Through  the  gloom, 
the  jewels  and  eyes  of  the  women  seemed  to  shine  with  a 
new  brilliance.  Slight  eccentricities  of  toilette,  for  a  part 
of  the  gathering  was  distinctly  Bohemian,  were  softened 
and  subdued.  The  whole  effect  was  somewhat  weird,  but 
also  picturesque. 

Andrea  Korust  advanced  from  a  little  group  to  meet 
his  guests.  Off  the  stage  he  seemed  at  first  sight  frailer 
and  slighter  than  ever.  His  dress  coat  had  been  exchanged 
for  a  velvet  dinner  jacket,  and  his  white  tie  for  a  drooping 
black  bow.  He  had  a  habit  of  blinking  nearly  all  the  time, 
as  though  his  large  brown  eyes,  which  he  seldom  wholly 
opened,  were  weaker  than  they  appeared  to  be.  Neverthe- 
less, when  he  came  to  within  a  few  paces  of  his  newly  ar- 
rived visitors,  they  shone  with  plenty  of  expression.  With- 
out any  change  of  countenance,  however,  he  held  out  his* 
hand. 

"  Dear  Andrea,"  Mademoiselle  Celaire  exclaimed,  "  you 
permit  me  that  I  present  to  you  my  dear  friend,  well  known 
in  Paris  —  alas  !  many  years  ago  —  Monsieur  le  Baron 
de  Grost.  Monsieur  le  Baron  was  kind  enough  to  pay  his 
respects  to  me  this  evening,  and  I  have  induced  him  to 
become  my  escort  here." 


282     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  It  was  my  good  fortune,"  Peter  remarked,  smiling, 
"that, I  saw  Mademoiselle  Celaire's  name  upon  the  bills 
this  evening  —  my  good  fortune,  since  it  has  procured  for 
me  the  honor  of  an  acquaintance  with  a  musician  so 
distinguished." 

"  You  are  very  kind,  Monsieur  le  Baron,"  Korust 
replied. 

"  You  stay  here,  I  regret  to  hear,  a  very  short  time  ?  " 

"  Alas !  "  Andrea  Korust  admitted,  "  it  is  so.  For  my- 
self I  would  that  it  were  longer.  I  find  your  London  so 
attractive,  the  people  so  friendly.  They  fall  in  with  my 
whims  so  charmingly.  I  have  a  hatred,  you  know,  of  soli- 
tude. I  like  to  make  acquaintances  wherever  I  go,  to  have 
delightful  women  and  interesting  men  around,  to  forget 
that  life  is  not  always  gay.  If  I  am  too  much  alone,  I 
am  miserable,  and  when  I  am  miserable  I  am  in  a  very 
bad  way  indeed.     I  cannot  then  make  music." 

Peter  smiled  gravely   and  sympathetically. 

"And  your  brother?  Does  he,  too,  share  your  grega- 
rious instincts  ?  " 

Korust  paused  for  a  moment  before  replying.  His  eyes 
were  quite  wide  open  now.  If  one  could  judge  from  his 
expression,  one  would  certainly  have  said  that  the  Baron 
de  Grost's  attempts  to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  host 
were  distinctly  unsuccessful. 

"  My  brother  has  exactly  opposite  instincts,"  he  said 
slowly.  "  He  finds  no  pleasure  in  society.  At  the  sound 
of  a  woman's  voice,  he  hides." 

"  He  is  not  here,  then  ?  "  Peter  asked,  glancing  around. 

Andrea  Korust  shook  his  head. 

"  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  j  oins  us  this  evening  at  all," 
he  declared.  "  My  sister,  however,  is  wholly  of  my  disposi- 
tion.   Monsieur  le  Baron  will  permit  that  I  present  him." 

Peter  bowed  low  before  a  very  handsome  young  woman 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   283 

with  flashing  black  eyes,  and  a  type  of  features  undoubtedly 
belonging  to  one  of  the  countries  of  eastern  Europe.  She 
was  picturesquely  dressed  in  a  gown  of  flaming  red  silk, 
made  as  though  in  one  piece,  without  trimming  or  flounces, 
and  she  seemed  inclined  to  bestow  upon  her  new  acquaint- 
ance all  the  attention  that  he  might  desire.  She  took 
him  at  once  into  a  corner  and  seated  herself  by  his  side. 
It  was  impossible  for  Peter  not  to  associate  the  empresse- 
ment  of  her  manner  with  the  few  words  which  Andrea 
Korust  had  whispered  into  her  ear  at  the  moment  of  their 
introduction. 

"  So  you,"  she  murmured,  "  are  the  wonderful  Baron 
de  Grost.     I  have  heard  of  you  so  often." 

"  Wonderful !  "  Peter  I'epeated,  with  twinkling  eyes.  "  I 
have  never  been  called  that  before.  I  feel  that  I  have  no 
claims  whatever  to  distinction,  especially  in  a  gathering 
like  this." 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  glanced  carelessly 
across  the  room. 

"  They  are  well  enough,"  she  admitted,  "  but  one  wearies 
of  genius  on  every  side  of  one.  Genius  is  not  the  best 
thing  in  the  world  to  live  with,  you  know.  It  has  whims 
and  fancies.  For  instance,  look  at  these  rooms  —  the 
gloom,  the  obscurity  —  and  I  love  so  much  the  light." 

Peter  smiled. 

"  It  is  the  privilege  of  genius,"  he  remarked,  "  to  have 
whims  and  to  indulge  in  them." 

She  sighed. 

"To  do  Andrea  justice,"  she  said,  "It  is,  perhaps, 
scarcely  a  whim  that  he  chooses  to  receive  his  guests  in 
semi-darkness.  He  has  weak  eyes  and  he  is  much  too 
vain  to  wear  spectacles.  Tell  me,  you  know  every  one 
here.?" 

"  No  one,"  Peter  declared.      "  Please  enlighten  me,  if 


284  PETER  RUFF  AND  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR 

you  think  it  necessary.  For  myself,"  he  added,  dropping 
his  voice  a  little,  "  I  feel  that  the  happiness  of  my  evening 
is  assured,  without  making  any  further  acquaintances." 

"  But  you  came  as  the  guest  of  Mademoiselle  Celaire," 
she  reminded  him,  doubtfully,  with  a  faint  regretful  sigh 
and  a  provocative  gleam  in  her  eyes. 

"  I  saw  Mademoiselle  Celaire  to-night  for  the  first  time 
for  years,"  Peter  replied.  "  I  called  to  see  her  in  her 
dressing-room  and  she  claimed  me  for  an  escort  this 
evening.  I  am,  alas !  a  very  occasional  wanderer  in  the 
pleasant  paths  of  Bohemia." 

"  If  that  is  really  true,"  she  murmured,  "  I  suppose  I 
must  tell  you  something  about  the  people,  or  you  will 
feel  that  you  have   wasted  your   opportunity." 

"  Mademoiselle,"  Peter  whispered. 

She  held  out  her  hand  and  laughed  into  his  face. 

"  No !  "  she  interrupted.  "  I  shall  do  my  duty.  Oppo- 
site you  is  Mademoiselle  Trezani,  the  famous  singer  at 
Covent  Garden.  Do  I  need  to  tell  you  that,  I  wonder  .f* 
Rudolf  Maesterling,  the  dramatist,  stands  behind  her  there 
in  the  corner.  He  i,s  talking  to  the  wonderful  Cleo,  whom 
all  the  world  knows.  Monsieur  Guyer  there,  he  is  manager, 
I  believe,  of  the  Alhamhra;  and  talking  to  him  is  Marborg, 
the  great  pianist.  One  of  the  ladies  talking  to  my  brother 
is  Esther  Braithwaite,  whom,  of  course,  you  know  by  sight; 
she  is  leading  lady,  is  she  not,  at  the  Hilarity?  The  other 
is  Miss  Ransome ;  they  tell  me  that  she  is  your  only 
really  great  English  actress." 

Peter  nodded  appreciatively. 
.  "  It  is   all  most  interesting,"  he  declared.     "  Now  tell 
me,  please,  who  is  the  military  person  with  the  stiff  figure 
and  sallow  complexion,  standing  by  the  door.''     He  seems 
quite  alone." 

The  girl  made  a  little  grimace. 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   285 

"  I  suppose  I  ought  to  be  looking  after  him,"  she 
admitted,  rising  reluctantly  to  her  feet.  "  He  is  a  soldier 
just  back  from  India  —  a  General  Noseworth}'^,  with  all 
sorts  of  letters  after  his  name.  If  Mademoiselle  Celaire 
is  generous,  perhaps  we  may  have  a  few  minutes'  conver- 
sation later  on,"  she  added,  with  a  parting  smile. 

"  Say,  rather,  if  Mademoiselle  Korust  is  kind,"  De  Grost 
replied,  bowing.     "  It  depends  upon  that  only." 

He  strolled  across  the  room  and  rejoined  Mademoiselle 
Celaire  a  few  moments  later.  They  stood  apart  in  a 
corner. 

"  I  should  like  my  supper,"  Peter  declared. 

"  They  wait  for  one  more  guest,"  Mademoiselle  Celaire 
announced. 

"  One  more  guest !     Do  you  know  who  it  is .''  " 

"  No  idea,"  she  answered.  "  One  would  imagine  that 
it  was  some  one  of  importance.  Are  you  any  wiser  than 
when  you  came,  dear  master  .^ "  she  added,  under  her 
breath. 

"  Not  a  whit,"  he  replied,  promptl3\ 

She  took  out  her  fan  and  waved  it  slowly  in  front  of 
her  face. 

"  Yet  you  must  discover  what  it  all  means  to-night 
or  not  at  all,"  she  whispered.  "  The  dear  Andrea  has 
intimated  to  me  most  delicately  that  another  escort  would 
be  more  acceptable  if  I  should  honor  him  again." 

"  That  helps,"  he  murmured.  "  See,  our  last  guest 
arrives.     Ah !  " 

A  tall,  spare-looking  man  was  just  being  announced. 
They  heard  his  name  as  Andrea  presented  him  to  a 
companion  — 

"  Colonel  Mayson  !  " 

Mademoiselle  Celaire  saw  a  gleam  in  her  companion's 
eyes. 


286     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  It  is  coming  —  the  idea  ?  "  she  whispered. 

"  Very  vaguely,"  he  admitted. 

"  Who  is  this  Colonel  Mayson  ?  " 

"  Our  only  military  aeronaut,"  Peter  replied. 

She  raised  her  eyebrows. 

"  Aeronaut !  "  she  repeated,  doubtfully.  "  I  see  nothing 
in  that.  Both  my  own  country  and  Germany  are  years 
ahead  of  poor  England  in  the  air.     Is  it  not  so.''" 

Peter  smiled  and  held  out  his  arm. 

"  See,"  he  said,  "  supper  has  been  announced.  After- 
wards, Andrea  Korust  will  play  to  us,  and  I  think  that 
Colonel  Mayson  and  his  distinguished  brother  officer  from 
India  will  talk.     We  shall  see." 

They  passed  into  a  room  whose  existence  had  suddenly- 
been  revealed  by  the  drawing  back  of  some  beautiful  bro- 
caded curtains.  Supper  was  a  delightful  meal,  charmingly 
served.  Peter,  putting  everything  else  out  of  his  head 
for  the  moment,  thoroughly  enjoyed  himself,  and,  remem- 
bering his  duty  as  a  guest,  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
towards  the  success  of  the  entertainment.  He  sat  between 
Mademoiselle  Celaire  and  his  hostess,  both  of  whom  de- 
manded much  from  him  in  the  way  of  attention.  But  he 
still  found  time  to  tell  stories  which  were  listened  to  by 
every  one,  and  exchanged  sallies  with  the  gayest.  Only 
Andrea  Korust,  from  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
glanced  occasionally  towards  his  popular  guest  with  a 
curious,  half-hidden  expression  of  distaste  and  suspicion. 

The  more  the  Baron  de  Grost  shone,  the  more  uneasy 
he  became.  The  signal  to  rise  from  the  meal  was  given 
almost  abruptly.  Mademoiselle  Korust  hung  on  to  Peter's 
arm.  Her  own  wishes  and  her  brother's  orders  seemed 
absolutely  to  coincide.  She  led  him  towards  a  retiring 
corner  of  the  music  room.  On  the  way,  however,  Peter 
overheard  the  introduction  which  he  had  expected. 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   287 

"  General  Noseworthy  is  just  returned  from  India, 
Colonel  Mayson,"  Korust  said,  in  his  usual  quiet,  tired 
tone.  "  You  will,  perhaps,  find  it  interesting  to  talk 
together  a  little.  As  for  me,  I  play  because  all  are  polite 
enough  to  wish  it,  but  conversation  disturbs  me  not  in 
the  least." 

Peter  passed,  smiling,  on  to  the  corner  pointed  out  by 
his  companion,  which  was  the  darkest  and  most  secluded 
in  the  room.  He  took  her  fan  and  gloves,  lit  her  cigarette, 
and  leaned  back  by  her  side. 

"  How  does  your  brother,  a  stranger  to  London,  find 
time  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  so  many  interesting 
people.''  "  he  asked. 

"  He  brought  many  letters,"  she  replied.  "  He  has 
friends  everywhere." 

"  I  have  an  idea,"  Peter  remarked,  "  that  an  acquaint- 
ance of  my  own,  the  Count  von  Hern,  spoke  to  me  once 
about  him." 

She  took  her  cigarette  from  her  lips  and  turned  her 
head  slightly.  Peter's  expression  was  one  of  amiable  rem- 
iniscence. His  cheeks  were  a  trifle  flushed,  his  appearance 
was  entirely  reassuring.  She  laughed  at  her  brother's 
caution.     She  found  her  companion  delightful. 

*'  Yes,  the  Count  von  Hern  is  a  friend  of  my  brother's," 
she  admitted,  carelessly. 

"  And  of  yours.''  "  he  whispered,  his  arm  slightly  pressed 
against  hers. 

She  laughed  at  him  silently  and  their  eyes  met.  De- 
cidedly Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  found  it  hard  to  break 
away  from  his  old  weakness !  Andrea  Korust,  from  his 
place  near  the  piano,  breathed  a  sigh  of  relief  as  he 
watched.  A  moment  or  two  later,  however.  Mademoiselle 
Korust  was  obliged  to  leave  her  companion  to  receive  a 
late   but   unimportant   guest,   and    almost   simultaneously 


288     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Colonel  Mayson  passed  by  on  his  way  to  the  farther  end 
of  the  apartment.  Andrea  Korust  was  bending  over  the 
piano  to  give  some  instructions  to  his  accompanist.  Peter 
leaned  forward  and  his  face  and  tone  were  strangely 
altered. 

"  You  will  find  General  Noseworthy  of  the  Indian  Army 
a  little  inquisitive,  Colonel,"  he  remarked. 

The  latter  turned  sharply  round.  There  was  meaning 
in  those  few  words,  without  doubt !  There  was  meaning, 
too,  in  the  still,  cold  face  which  seemed  to  repel  his  ques- 
tion. He  passed  on  thoughtfully.  Mademoiselle  Korust, 
with  a  gesture  of  relief,  came  back  and  threw  herself  once 
more  upon  the  couch. 

"We  must  talk  in  whispers,"  she  said,  gayly.  "Andrea 
always  declares  that  he  does  not  mind  conversation,  but 
too  much  noise  is,  of  course,  impossible.  Besides,  Made- 
moiselle Celaire  will  not  spare  you  to  me  for  long." 

"  There  is  a  whole  language,"  he  replied,  "  which  was 
made  for  whispers.     And  as  for  Mademoiselle  Celaire  —  " 

"Well.?" 

He  laughed  softly. 

"  Mademoiselle  Celaire  is,  I  think,  more  your  brother's 
friend  than  mine,"  he  murmured.  "  At  least,  I  will  be 
generous.  He  has  given  me  a  delightful  evening.  I  re- 
sign my  claims  upon  Mademoiselle  Celaire." 

"  It  would  break  your  heart,"  she  declared. 

His  voice  sank  even  below  a  whisper.  Decidedly,  Peter, 
Baron  de  Grost,  did  not  improve !  .   .  . 

Pie  rose  to  leave  precisely  at  the  right  time,  neither 
too  early  nor  too  late.  He  had  spent  altogether  a  most 
amusing  evening.  There  were  one  or  two  little  comedies 
which  had  diverted  him  -  extremely.  At  the  moment  of 
parting,  the  beautiful  eyes  of  Mademoiselle  Korust  had 
been  raised  to  his  very  earnestly. 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST  289 

"  You  will  come  again  very  soon  —  to-morrow  night?  " 
she  had  whispered.  "  Is  it  necessary  that  you  bring  Made- 
moiselle Celaire?  " 

"  It  is  altogether  unnecessary,"  Peter  replied. 

"  Let  me  try  and  entertain  you  instead,  then !  " 

It  was  precisely  at  that  instant  that  Andrea  had  sent 
for  his  sister.  Peter  watched  their  brief  conversation  with 
much  interest  and  intense  amusement.  She  was  being  told 
not  to  invite  him  there  again  and  she  was  rebelling !  With- 
out a  doubt,  he  had  made  a  conquest!  She  returned  to 
him  flushed  and  with  a  dangerous  glitter  in  her  eyes. 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron,"  she  said,  leading  him  on  one 
side,  "  I  am  ashamed  and  angry." 

"  Your  brother  is  annoyed  because  you  have  asked  me 
here  to-morrow  night .?"  he  asked,  quickly. 

"  It  is  so,"  she  confessed.  "  Indeed,  I  thank  you  that 
you  have  spared  me  the  task  of  putting  my  brother's 
discourtesy  into  words.  Andrea  takes  violent  fancies  like 
that  sometimes.     I  am  ashamed,  but  what  can  I  do  ?  " 

"  Nothing,  mademoiselle,"  he  admitted,  with  a  sigh.  "  I 
obey,  of  course.  Did  your  brother  mention  the  source 
of  his   aversion  to   me.'*  " 

"  He  is  too  absurd  sometimes,"  she  declared.  "  One 
must  treat  him  like  a  great  baby." 

"  Nevertheless,  there  must  be  a  reason,"  Peter  persisted, 
gently. 

"  He  has  heard  some  foolish  thing  from  Count  von 
Hern,"  she  admitted,  reluctantly.  "  Do  not  let  us  think 
anything  more  about  it.  In  a  few  days  it  will  have  passed. 
And  meanwhile  —  " 

She  paused.  He  leaned  a  little  towards  her.  She  was 
looking  intently  at  a  ring  upon  her  finger. 

"  If  you  would  really  like  to  see  me,"  she  whispered, 
*'  and  if  you  are  sure  that  Mademoiselle  Celaire  would  not 


ago    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

object,  could  you  not  ask  me  to  tea  to-morrow  —  or  the 
next  day?  " 

"  To-morrow,"  Peter  insisted,  with  a  becoming  show  of 
eagerness.     "  Shall  we  say  at  the  Carlton  at  five?  " 

She  hesitated. 

"Isn't  that  rather  a  public  place?"  she  objected. 

"  Anywhere  else  you  like." 

She  was  silent  for  a  moment.  She  seemed  to  be  waiting 
for  some  suggestion  from  him.     None  came,  however. 

"  The  Carlton  at  five,"  she  murmured.  "  I  am  angry 
with  Andrea.  I  feel,  even,  that  I  could  break  his  wonderful 
violin  in  two  !  " 

Peter  sighed  once  more. 

"  I  should  like  to  twist  Von  Hern's  neck,"  he  declared. 
"  Lucky  for  him  that  he  's  in  St.  Petersburg !  Let  us 
forget  this  unpleasant  matter,  mademoiselle.  The  evening 
has  been  too  delightful  for  such  memories."  .   .   . 

Mademoiselle  Celaire  turned  to  her  escort  eagerly  as 
soon  as  they  were  alone  together  in  the  car. 

"  As  an  escort,  let  me  tell  you,  my  dear  Baron,"  she 
exclaimed,  with  some  pique,  "  that  you  are  a  miserable 
failure !     For  the  rest  —  " 

"  For  the  rest,  I  will  admit  that  I  am  puzzled,"  Peter 
said.  "  I  need  to  think.  I  have  the  glimmerings  of  an 
idea  —  no  more." 

"  You  will  act?  It  is  an  affair  for  us  —  for  the  Double- 
Four?  " 

"  Without  a  doubt  —  an  affair  and  a  serious  one," 
Peter  assured  her.  "  I  shall  act ;  exactly  how  I  cannot 
say  until  after  to-morrow." 

*'  To-morrow?  "   she   repeated,   inquiringly. 

"  Mademoiselle  Korust  takes  tea  with  me,"  he  explained. 

In  a  quiet  sort  of  way,  the  series  of  supper  parties 
given  by  Andrea  Korust  became  the  talk  of  London.     The 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   291 

most  famous  dancer  in  the  world  broke  through  her  un- 
varying rule  and  night  after  night  thrilled  the  distinguished 
little  gathering.  An  opera  singer,  the  "  star "  of  the 
season,  sang,  a  great  genius  recited,  and  Andrea  himself 
gave  always  of  his  best.  Apart  from  this  wonderful  out- 
pouring of  talent,  Andrea  Korust  himself  seemed  to  possess 
the  peculiar  art  of  bringing  into  touch  with  one  another 
people  naturally  interested  in  the  same  subjects.  On  the 
night  after  the  visit  of  Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  His  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Rosshire  was  present,  the  man  in  whose  hands 
lay  the  destinies  of  the  British  Navy;  and,  curiously 
enough,  on  the  same  night,  a  great  French  writer  on  naval 
subjects  was  present,  whom  the  Duke  had  never  met,  and 
with  whom  he  was  delighted  to  talk  for  some  time  apart. 
On  another  occasion,  the  Military  Secretary  to  the  French 
Embassy  was  able  to  have  a  long  and  instructive  chat  with 
a  distinguished  English  general  on  the  subject  of  the  recent 
maneuvers,  and  the  latter  received,  in  the  strictest  confi- 
dence, some  very  interesting  information  concerning  the 
new  type  of  French  guns.  On  the  following  evening,  the 
greatest  of  our  Colonial  statesmen,  a  red-hot  Imperialist, 
was  able  to  chat  about  the  resources  of  the  Empire  with 
an  English  politician  of  similar  views  whom  he  chanced 
never  to  have  previously  met.  Altogether,  these  parties 
seemed  to  be  the  means  of  bringing  together  a  series  of 
most  interesting  people,  interesting  not  only  in  themselves, 
but  in  their  relations  to  one  another.  It  was  noticeable, 
however,  that  from  tliis  side  of  his  little  gatherings  Andrea 
Korust  remained  wholly  apart.  He  frankly  admitted  that 
music  and  cheerful  companionship  were  the  only  two  things 
in  life  he  cared  for.  Politics  or  matters  of  world  import 
seemed  to  leave  him  unmoved.  If  a  serious  subject  of 
conversation  were  started  at  supper  time,  he  was  frankly 
bored,  and  took  no  particular  pains  to  hide  the  fact.     It 


292     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

is  certain  that  whatever  interesting  topics  were  alluded 
to  in  his  presence,  he  remained  entirely  outside  any  under- 
standing of  them.  Mademoiselle  Celaire,  who  was  present 
most  evenings,  although  with  other  escorts,  was  entirely 
puzzled.  She  could  see  nothing  whatever  to  account  for 
the  warning  which  she  had  received,  and  which  she  had 
passed  on,  as  was  her  duty,  to  the  Baron  de  Grost.  She 
failed,  also,  to  understand  the  faint  but  perceptible  en- 
lightenment to  which  Peter  himself  had  admittedly  attained 
after  that  first  evening.  Take  that  important  conversa- 
tion, for  instance,  between  the  French  military  attache 
and  the  English  general.  Without  a  doubt  it  was  of 
interest,  and  especially  so  to  the  country  which  she  was 
sure  claimed  his  allegiance,  but  it  was  equally  without 
doubt  that  Andrea  Korust  neither  overheard  a  word  of 
that  conversation  nor  betrayed  the  slightest  curiosity  con- 
cerning it.  Mademoiselle  Celaire  was  a  clever  woman  and 
she  had  never  felt  so  hopelessly  at  fault.  .   .  . 

The  seventh  and  last  of  these  famous  supper  parties  was 
in  full  swing.  Notwithstanding  the  shaded  candles,  which 
left  the  faces  of  the  guests  a  little  indistinct,  the  scene 
was  a  brilliant  one.  Mademoiselle  Celaire  was  wearing 
her  famous  diamonds,  which  shone  through  the  gloom  like 
pin-pricks  of  fire.  Garda  Desmaines,  the  wonderful  Garda, 
sat  next  to  her  host,  her  bosom  and  hair  on  fire  with 
jewels,  yet  with  the  most  wonderful  light  of  all  glowing 
in  her  eyes.  A  famous  actor,  who  had  thrown  his  pro- 
A'erbial  reticence  to  the  winds,  kept  his  immediate  neigh- 
bors in  a  state  of  semi-hysterical  mirth.  The  clink  of 
wine  glasses,  the  laughter  of  beautiful  women,  the  murmur 
of  cultivated  voices,  rising  and  swelling  through  the  faint, 
mysterious  gloom,  made  a  picturesque,  a  wonderful  scene. 
Pale  as  a  marble  statue,  with  the  covert  smile  of  the 
gracious  host,  Andrea  Korust  sat  at  the  head  of  his  table, 


A  silence  fotloived —  breathless  — 
the  silence  before  the  bursting  of  the 
storm. 

Page  2gj. 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   293 

well  pleased  with  his  company,  as  indeed  he  had  the  right 
to  be.  By  his  side  was  a  great  American  statesman,  who 
was  traveling  around  the  world  and  yet  had  refused  all 
other  invitations  of  this  sort.  He  had  come  for  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  the  famous  Dutch  writer  and  politician,  Mr. 
Van  Jool.  The  two  were  already  talking  intimately.  It 
was  at  this  point  that  tragedy,  or  something  like  it, 
intervened.  A  man's  impatient  voice  was  heard  in  the 
hall  outside,  a  man's  voice  which  grew  louder  and  louder, 
more  impatient,  finally  more  passionate.  People  raised 
their  heads  to  listen.  The  American  statesman,  who  was, 
perhaps,  the  only  one  to  realize  exactly  what  was  coming, 
slipped  his  hand  into  his  pocket  and  gripped  something 
cold  and  hard.  Then  the  door  was  flung  open.  An 
apologetic  and  much  disturbed  butler  made  the  announce- 
ment which  had  evidently  been  demanded  of  him. 

"  Mr.  Von  Tassen !  " 

A  silence  followed  —  breathless  —  the  silence  before  the 
bursting  of  the  storm.  Mr.  Von  Tassen  was  the  name  of 
the  American  statesman,  and  the  man  who  rose  slowly 
from  his  place  by  his  host's  side  was  the  exact  double 
of  the  man  who  stood  now  upon  the  threshold,  gazing  in 
upon  the  room.  The  expression  of  the  two  alone  was 
different.  The  newcomer  was  furiously  angry,  and  looked 
it.  The  sham  Mr.  Von  Tassen  was  very  much  at  his 
ease.  It  was  he  who  broke  the  silence,  and  his  voice  was 
curiously  free  from  all  trace  of  emotion.  He  was  looking 
his  double  over  with  an  air  of  professional  interest. 

"  On  the  whole,"  he  said,  calmly,  "  very  good.  A  little 
stouter,  I  perceive,  and  the  eyebrows  a  trifle  too  regular. 
Of  course,  when  you  make  faces  at  me  like  that,  it  is  hard 
to  judge  of  the  expression.  I  can  only  say  that  I  did 
the  best  I  could." 

"  Who  the  devil  are  you,  masquerading  in  my  name  ?  " 


294     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

the  newcomer  demanded,  with  emphasis.  "  This  man  is  an 
impostor !  "  he  added,  turning  to  Andrea  Korust.  "  What 
is  he  doing  at  your  table?  " 

Andrea  leaned  forward  and  his  face  was  an  evil  thing 
to  look  upon. 

"Who  are  you?"  he  hissed  out. 

The  sham  Mr.  Von  Tassen  turned  away  for  a  moment 
and  stooped  down.  The  trick  has  been  done  often  enough 
upon  the  stage,  often  in  less  time,  but  seldom  with  more 
effect.  The  wonderful  wig  disappeared,  the  spectacles,  the 
lines  in  the  face,  the  make-up  of  diabolical  cleverness. 
With  his  back  to  the  wall  and  his  fingers  playing  with 
something  in  his  pocket,  Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  smiled 
upon  his  host. 

"Since  you  insist  upon  knowing  —  the  Baron  de  Grost, 
at  your  service !  "  he  announced. 

Andrea  Korust  was,  for  the  moment,  speechless.  One 
of  the  women  shrieked.  The  real  Mr.  Von  Tassen  looked 
around  him  helplessly. 

"  Will  some  one  be  good  enough  to  enlighten  me  as 
to  the  meaning  of  this?  "  he  begged.  "  Is  it  a  roast?  If 
so,  I  only  want  to  catch  on.  Let  me  get  to  the  joke,  if 
there  is  one.  If  not,  I  should  like  a  few  words  of  ex- 
planation from  you,  sir,"  he  added,  addressing  Peter. 

"  Presently,"  the  latter  replied.  "  In  the  meantime,  let 
me  persuade  you  that  I  am  not  the  only  impostor  here." 

He  seized  a  glass  of  water  and  dashed  it  in  the  face 
of  Mr.  Van  Jool.  There  was  a  moment's  scuffle,  and  no 
more  of  Mr.  Van  Jool.  What  emerged  was  a  good  deal 
like  the  shy  Maurice  Korust,  who  accompanied  his  brother 
at  the  music  hall,  but  whose  distaste  for  these  gatherings 
had  been  Andrea's  continual  lament.  The  Baron  de  Grost 
stepped  back  once  more  against  the  wall.  His  host  was 
certainly   looking  dangerous.      Mademoiselle    Celaire   was 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   295 

leaning  forward,  staring  through  the  gloom  with  distended 
eyes.  Around  the  table  every  head  was  turned  towards 
the  centre  of  the  disturbance.  It  was  Peter  again  who 
spoke. 

"  Let  me  suggest,  Andrea  Korust,"  he  said,  "  that  you 
send  your  guests  —  those  who  are  not  immediately  inter- 
ested in  this  affair  —  into  the  next  room.  I  will  offer 
Mr.  Von  Tassen  then  the  explanation  to  which  he  is 
entitled." 

Andrea  Korust  staggered  to  his  feet.  The  man's  nerve 
had  failed.  He  was  shaking  all  over.  He  pointed  to  the 
music  room. 

"  If  you  would  be  so  good,  ladies  and  gentlemen?  "  he 
begged.     "  We  will  follow  you  immediately." 

They  went  with  obvious  reluctance.  All  their  eyes 
seemed  focussed  upon  Peter.  He  bore  their  scrutiny  with 
calm  cheerfulness.  For  a  moment  he  had  feared  Korust, 
but  that  moment  had  passed.  A  servant,  obeying  his 
master's  gesture,  pulled  back  the  curtains  after  the  de- 
parting crowd.     The  four  men  were  alone. 

"  Mr.  Von  Tassen,"  Peter  said,  easily,  "  you  are  a  man 
who  loves  adventures.  To-night  you  experience  a  new  sort 
of  one.  Over  in  your  great  country,  such  methods  are 
laughed  at  as  the  cheap  device  of  sensation  mongers. 
Nevertheless,  they  exist.  To-night  is  a  proof  that  they 
exist." 

"  Get  on  to  facts,  sir,"  the  American  admonished. 
"  You  've  got  to  explain  to  me  what  you  mean  by  passing 
yourself  off  as  Thomas  Von  Tassen,  before  you  leave  this 
room." 

Peter  bowed. 

"  With  much  pleasure,  Mr.  Von  Tassen,"  he  declared. 
"  For  your  information,  I  might  tell  you  that  you  are 
not  the  only  person  in  whose  guise  I  have  figured.      In 


296     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

fact,  I  have  had  quite  a  busy  week.  I  have  been  —  let  me 
see  —  I  have  been  Monsieur  le  Marquis  de  Beau  Kunel 
on  the  night  when  our  shy  friend,  Maurice  Korust,  was 
playing  the  part  of  General  Henderson.  I  have  also  been 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Rosshire  when  my  friend  Maurice 
here  was  introduced  to  me  as  Fran9ois  Defayal,  known  by 
name  to  me  as  one  of  the  greatest  writers  on  naval  matters. 
A  little  awkward  about  the  figure  I  found  His  Grace,  but 
otherwise  I  think  that  I  should  have  passed  muster  wher- 
ever he  was  known.  I  have  also  passed  as  Sir  William 
Laureston,  on  the  evening  when  my  rival  artist  here  sang 
the  praises  of  Imperial  England." 

Andrea  Korust  leaned  forward  with  venomous  eyes. 

"  You  mean  that  it  was  you  who  was  here  last  night 
in  Sir  William  Laureston's  place?  "  he  almost  shrieked. 

"  Most  certainly,"  Peter  admitted,  "  but  you  must  re- 
member that,  after  all,  my  performances  have  been  no  more 
difficult  than  those  of  your  shy  but  accomplished  brother. 
Whenever  I  took  to  myself  a  strange  personality  I  found 
him  there,  equally  good  as  to  detail,  and  with  his  subject 
always  at  his  finger  tips.  We  settled  that  little  matter 
of  the  canal,  didn't  we?"  Peter  remarked,  cheerfully, 
laying  his  hand  upon  the  shoulder  of  the  young  man. 

They  stared  at  him,  those  two  white-faced  brothers,  like 
tiger-cats  about  to  spring.  Mr.  Von  Tassen  was  getting 
impatient. 

"Look  here,"  he  protested,  "you  may  be  clearing 
matters  up  so  far  as  regards  Mr.  Andrea  Korust  and  his 
brother,  but  I  'm  as  much  in  the  fog  as  ever.  Where  do 
I  come  in?  " 

"  Your  pardon,  sir,"  Peter  replied.  "  I  am  getting 
nearer  things  now.  These  two  young  men  —  we  will  not 
call  them  hard  names  —  are  suffering  from  an  excess  of 
patriotic  zeal.     They  did  n't  come  and  sit  down  on  a  camp 


THE  SEVEN  SUPPERS  OF  ANDREA  KORUST   297 

stool  and  sketch  obsolete  forts,  as  those  others  of  their 
countrymen  do  when  they  want  to  pose  as  the  bland  and 
really  exceedingly  ignorant  foreigner.  They  went  about 
the  matter  with  some  skill.  It  occurred  to  them  that  it 
might  be  interesting  to  their  country  to  know  what  Sir 
William  Laureston  thought  about  the  strength  of  the  Im- 
perial Navy,  and  to  what  extent  his  country  was  willing 
to  go  in  maintaining  their  allegiance  to  Great  Britain. 
Then  there  was  the  Duke  of  Rosshire.  They  thought 
they  'd  like  to  know  his  views  as  to  the  development  of 
the  Navy  during  the  next  ten  years.  There  was  that  little 
matter,  too,  of  the  French  guns.  It  would  certainly  be 
interesting  to  them  to  know  what  Monsieur  le  Marquis  de 
Beau  Kunel  had  to  say  about  them.  These  people  were 
all  invited  to  sit  at  the  hospitable  board  of  our  host  here. 
I,  however,  had  an  inkling  on  the  first  night  of  what  was 
going  on,  and  I  was  easily  able  to  persuade  those  in 
authority  to  let  me  play  their  several  parts.  You,  sir," 
Peter  added,  turning  to  Mr.  Von  Tassen,  "  you,  sir,  floored 
me.  You  were  not  an  Englishman,  and  there  was  no 
appeal  which  I  could  make.  I  simply  had  to  risk  you. 
I  counted  upon  your  not  turning  up.  Unfortunately, 
you  did.  Fortunately,  you  are  the  last  guest.  This  is 
the  seventh  supper." 

Mr.  Von  Tassen  glanced  around  at  the  three  men  and 
made   up   his   mind. 

"What  do  you  call  yourself .'' "  he  asked  Peter. 

"  The  Baron  de  Grost,"  Peter  replied. 

"  Then,  my  friend  the  Baron  de  Grost,"  Von  Tassen 
said,  "  I  think  that  you  and  I  had  better  get  out  of  this. 
So  I  was  to  talk  about  Germany  with  IVI^.  Van  Jool,  eh?  " 

"  I  have  already  explained  your  views,"  Peter  declared, 
with  twinkling  eyes.     "  Mr.  Van  Jool  was  delighted." 

Mr.  Von  Tassen  shook  with  laughter. 


298     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Say,"  he  exclaimed,  "  this  is  a  great  story !  If  you  're 
ready,  Baron  de  Grost,  lead  the  way  to  where  we  can  get 
a  whiskey  and  soda  and  a  chat." 

Mademoiselle  Celaire  came  gliding  out  to  them. 

"  I  am  not  going  to  be  left  here,"  she  whispered,  taking 
Peter's  arm. 

Peter  looked  back  from  the  door. 

"  At  any  rate,  Mr.  Andrea  Korust,"  he  said,  "  your 
first  supper  was  a  success.  Colonel  Mayson  was  genuine. 
Our  real  English  military  aeronaut  was  here,  and  he  has 
disclosed  to  you,  Maurice  Korust,  all  that  he  ever  knew. 
Henceforth,  I  presume  your  great  country  will  dispute 
with  us  for  the  mastery  of  the  air." 

"  Queer  country,  this ! "  Mr.  Von  Tassen  remarked, 
pausing  on  the  step  to  light  a  cigar.  "  Seems  kind  of 
humdrum  after  New  York,  but  there 's  no  use  talking. 
Things  do  happen  over  here,  anyway !  " 


CHAPTER    VII 

MAJOR    KOSUTh's    MISSION 

His  host,  very  fussy  as  he  always  was  on  the  morning 
of  his  big  shoot,  came  busthng  towards  Peter,  Baron  de 
Grost,  with  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  hand.  The  party  of 
men  had  just  descended  from  a  large  brake  and  were  stand- 
ing about  on  the  edge  of  the  common,  examining  cartridges, 
smoking  a  last  cigarette  before  the  business  of  the  morning, 
and  chatting  together  over  the  prospects  of  the  day's 
sport.  In  the  distance,  a  cloud  of  dust  indicated  the 
approach  of  a  fast  traveling  motor-car. 

"  My  dear  Baron,"  Sir  William  Bounderby  said,  "  I 
want  you  to  change  your  stand  to-day.  I  must  have  a  good 
man  at  the  far  corner  as  the  birds  go  off  my  hand  from 
there,  and  Addington  was  missing  them  shockingly  yester- 
day. Besides,  there  is  a  new  man  coming  on  your  left  and 
I  know  nothing  of  his  shooting  —  nothing  at  all !  " 

Peter  smiled. 

"  Anywhere  you  choose  to  put  me,  Sir  William,"  he 
assented.  "  They  came  badly  for  Addington  yesterday, 
and  well  for  me.     However,  I  '11  do  my  best." 

"  I  wish  people  would  n't  bring  strangers,  especially  to 
the  one  shoot  where  I  'm  keen  about  the  bag.  I  told  Portal 
he  could  bring  his  brother-in-law,  and  he  's  bringing  this 
foreign  fellow  instead.     Don't  suppose  he  can  shoot  for 


300     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

nuts!  Did  you  ever  hear  of  him,  I  wonder?  The  Count 
von  Hern,  he  calls  himself." 

The  motor-car  had  come  to  a  standstill  by  this  time. 
From  it  descended  Mr.  Portal  himself,  a  large  neighboring 
land  owner,  a  man  of  culture  and  travel.  With  him  was 
Bernadine,  in  a  very  correct  shooting  suit  and  Tyrolese 
hat.  On  the  other  side  of  Mr.  Portal  was  a  short,  thick  set 
man,  with  olive  complexion,  keen  black  eyes,  black  mustache 
and  imperial,  who  was  dressed  in  city  clothes.  Sir 
William's  eyebrows  were  slightly  raised  as  he  advanced  to 
greet  the  party.     Peter  was  at  once  profoundly  interested. 

Mr.  Portal  introduced  his  guests. 

"  You  will  forgive  me,  I  am  sure,  for  bringing  a  spec- 
tator, Bounderby,"  he  said.  "  Major  Kosuth,  whom  I 
have  the  honor  to  present  —  Major  Kosuth,  Sir  William 
Bounderby  —  is  high  up  in  the  diplomatic  service  of  a 
country  with  whom  we  must  feel  every  sympathy  —  the 
young  Turks.  The  Count  von  Hern,  who  takes  my 
brother-in-law's  place,  is  probably  known  to  you  by  name." 

Sir  William  welcomed  his  visitors  cordially. 

"  You  do  not  shoot,  Major  Kosuth?  "  he  asked. 

"  Very  seldom,"  the  Turk  answered.  "  I  come  to-day  with 
my  good  friend.  Count  von  Hern,  as  a  spectator,  if  you 
permit." 

"  Delighted,"  Sir  William  replied.  "  We  will  find  you 
a  safe  place  near  your  friend." 

The  little  party  began  to  move  toward  the  wood.  It 
was  just  at  this  moment  that  Bernadine  felt  a  touch  upon 
his  shoulder,  and,  turning  around,  found  Peter  by  his  side. 

"  An  unexpected  pleasure,  my  dear  Count,"  the  latter 
declared,  suavely.  "  I  had  no  idea  that  you  took  interest 
in  such  simple  sports." 

The  manners  of  Count  von  Hern  were  universally  quoted 
as  being  almost  too  perfect.     It  is  a  regrettable  fact,  how- 


MAJOR   KOSUTH'S   MISSION  301 

ever,  that  at  that  moment  he  swore  —  softly,  perhaps,  but 
with  distinct  vehemence.  A  moment  later  he  was  exchang- 
ing the  most  cordial  of  greetings  with  his  old  friend. 

"  You  have  the  knack,  my  dear  De  Grost,"  he  remarked, 
"  of  turning  up  in  the  most  surprising  places.  I  certainly 
did  not  know  that  among  your  many  accomplishments  was 
included  a  love  for  field  sports." 

Peter  smiled  quietly.  He  was  a  very  fine  shot,  and 
knew  it. 

"  One  must  amuse  oneself  these  days,"  he  said.  "  There 
is  little  else  to  do." 

Bernadine  bit  his  lip. 

"  My  absence  from  this  country,  I  fear,  has  robbed  you 
of  an  occupation." 

"  It  has  certainly  deprived  life  of  some  of  its  savor," 
Peter  admitted,  blandly.  "  By  the  bye,  will  you  not  pre- 
sent me  to  your  friend.''  I  have  the  utmost  sympathy  with 
the  intrepid  political  party  of  which  he  is  a  member." 

Von  Hern  performed  the  introduction  with  a  reluctance 
which  he  wholly  failed  to  conceal.  The  Turk,  however,  had 
been  walking  on  his  other  side,  and  his  hat  was  already 
lifted.     Peter  had  purposely  raised  his  voice. 

"  It  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure.  Major  Kosuth," 
Peter  said,  "  to  welcome  you  to  this  country.  In  common, 
I  believe,  with  the  majority  of  my  country  people,  I  have 
the  utmost  respect  and  admiration  for  the  movement  which 
you  represent." 

Major  Kosuth  smiled  slowly.  His  features  were  heavy 
and  unexpressive.  There  was  something  of  gloom,  how- 
ever, in  the  manner  of  his  response. 

"  You  are  very  kind.  Baron,"  he  replied,  "  and  I  wel- 
come very  much  this  expression  of  your  interest  in  my 
party.  I  believe  that  the  hearts  of  your  country  people 
are   turned   towards    us    in    the    same    manner.      I    could 


302    PETER   RUFF   AND   THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

wish  that  your  country's  political  sympathies  were  as 
easily  aroused." 

Bernadine  intervened  promptly. 

"Major  Kosuth  has  been  here  only  one  day,"  he  re- 
marked, lightly.  "  I  tell  him  that  he  is  a  little  too  impa- 
tient. See,  we  are  approaching  the  wood.  It  is  as  well 
here  to  refrain  from  conversation." 

"  We  will  resume  it  later,"  Peter  said,  softly.  "  I  have 
interests  in  Turkey,  and  it  would  give  me  great  pleasure 
to  have  a  talk  with  Major  Kosuth." 

"Financial  interests.''"  the  latter  inquired,  with  some 
eagerness. 

Peter  nodded. 

"  I  will  explain  after  the  first  drive,"  he  said,  turning 
away. 

Peter  walked  rather  quickly  until  he  reached  a  bend  in 
the  wood,  and  overtaking  his  host,  paused  for  a  moment. 

"  Lend  me  a  loader  for  half  an  hour.  Sir  William,"  he 
begged.  "  I  have  to  send  my  servant  to  the  village  with  a 
telegram." 

"  With  pleasure !  "  Sir  William  answered.  "  There  are 
several  to  spare.  I  '11  send  one  to  your  stand.  There  's 
Von  Rem  going  the  wrong  way !  "  he  exclaimed,  in  a  tone 
of  annoyance. 

Peter  was  just  in  time  to  stop  the  whistle  from  going 
to  his  mouth. 

"  Do  me  another  favor.  Sir  William,"  he  pleaded. 
"  Give  me  time  to  send  off  my  telegram  before  the  Count 
sees  what  I  'm  doing.  He  's  such  an  inquisitive  person," 
he  went  on,  noticing  his  host's  look  of  blank  surprise. 
"  Thank  you  ever  so  much." 

Peter  hurried  on  to  his  place.  It  was  round  the  corner 
of  the  wood  and  for  the  moment  out  of  sight  of  the  rest  of 
the  party.     He  tore  a  sheet  from  his  pocket-book  and 


MAJOR  KOSUTH'S  MISSION  303 

scribbled  out  a  telegram.  His  man  had  disappeared  and  a 
substitute  taken  his  place  by  the  time  Von  Hern  arrived. 
The  latter  was  now  all  amiability.  It  was  hard  to  believe, 
from  his  smiling  salutation,  that  he  and  the  man  to  whom 
he  waved  his  hand  in  so  airy  a  fashion  had  ever  declared 
war  to  the  death ! 

The  shooting  began  a  few  minutes  later.  Maj  or  Kosuth, 
from  a  campstool  a  few  yards  behind  his  friend,  watched 
with  somewhat  languid  interest.  He  gave  one,  indeed,  the 
impression  that  his  thoughts  were  far  removed  from  this 
simple  country  party,  the  main  object  of  whose  existence 
for  the  present  seemed  to  be  the  slaying  of  a  certain  num- 
ber of  inoffensive  birds.  He  watched  the  indifferent  per- 
formance of  his  friend  and  the  remarkably  fine  shooting 
of  his  neighbor  on  the  left,  with  the  same  lack-luster  eye 
and  want  of  enthusiasm.  The  beat  was  scarcely  over  before 
Peter,  resigning  his  smoking  guns,  lit  a  cigarette  and 
strolled  across  to  the  next  stand.  He  plunged  at  once 
into  a  conversation  with  Kosuth,  notwithstanding  Berna- 
dine's  ill-concealed  annoyance. 

"Major  Kosuth,"  he  began,  "I  sympathize  with  you. 
It  is  a  hard  task  for  a  man  whose  mind  is  centered  upon 
great  events,  to  sit  still  and  watch  a  performance  of  this 
sort.  Be  kind  to  us  all  and  remember  that  this  represents 
to  us  merely  a  few  hours  of  relaxation.  We,  too,  have 
our  more  serious  moments." 

"  You  read  my  thoughts  well,"  Major  Kosuth  declared. 
"  I  do  not  seek  to  excuse  them.  For  half  a  life-time  we 
Turks  have  toiled  and  striven,  always  in  danger  of  our 
lives,  to  help  forward  those  things  which  have  now  come  to 
pass.  I  think  that  our  lives  have  become  tinged  with  som- 
berness  and  apprehension.  Now  that  the  first  step  is 
achieved,  we  go  foi-ward,  still  with  trepidation.  We  need 
friends,  Baron  de  Grost." 


304     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  cannot  seriously  doubt  but  that  you  will  find 
them  in  this  country,"  Peter  remarked.  "  There  has  never 
been  a  time  when  the  English  nation  has  not  sympathized 
with  the  cause  of  liberty." 

"It  is  not  the  hearts  of  your  people,"  Major  Kosuth 
said,  "  which  I  fear.  It  is  the  antics  of  your  politicians. 
Sympathy  is  a  great  thing,  and  good  to  have,  but  Turkey 
to-day  needs  more.  The  heart  of  a  nation  is  big,  but  the 
number  of  those  in  whose  hands  it  remains  to  give  practical 
expression  to  its  promptings,  is  few." 

Bernadine,  who  had  stood  as  much  as  he  could,  seized 
forcibly  upon  his  friend. 

"  You  must  remember  our  bargain,  Kosuth,"  he  insisted 

—  "  no  politics  to-day.     Until  to-morrow  evening  we  rest. 
Now  I  want  to  introduce  you  to  a  very  old  friend  of  mine 

—  the  Lord-Lieutenant  of  the  county." 

No  man  was  better  informed  in  current  political  affairs, 
but  Peter,  instead  of  joining  the  cheerful  afternoon  tea 
party  at  the  close  of  the  day,  raked  out  a  file  of  the  Times 
from  the  librarj^  and  studied  it  carefully  in  his  room. 
There  were  one  or  two  items  of  news  concerning  which  he 
made  pencil  notes.  He  had  scarcely  finished  his  task  before 
a  servant  brought  in  a  dispatch.  He  opened  it  with  in- 
terest and  drew  pencil  and  paper  towards  him.  It  was 
from  Paris,  and  in  the  code  which  he  had  learned  by  heart, 
no  written  key  of  which  existed.  Carefully  he  transposed 
it  on  to  paper  and  read  it  through.  It  was  dated  from 
Paris  a  few  hours  back. 

Kosuth  left  for  England  yesterday.  Envoy  from  new  Turkish 
Government.  Requiring  loan  one  million  pounds.  Asked  for  guar- 
antee that  it  was  not  for  warlike  movement  against  Bulgaria, 
declined  to  give  same.  Communicated  with  EngUsh  Ambassador 
and  informed  Kosuth  yesterday  that  neither  government  would 
sanction  loan  unless  undertaking  were  given  that  the  same  was 
not  to   be  applied   for   war   against  Bulgaria.     Turkey   is   under 


MAJOR   KOSUTH'S   MISSION  305 

covenant  to  enter  into  no  financial  obligations  with  any  other 
Power  while  the  interest  of  former  loans  remains  in  abeyance. 
Kosuth  has  made  two  efforts  to  obtain  loan  privately,  from  promi- 
nent English  financier  and  French  Sj-ndicate.  Both  have  declined 
to  treat  on  representations  from  government.  Kosuth  was  expected 
return  direct  to  Turkey.  If,  as  you  say,  he  is  in  England  with 
Bernadine,  we  commend  the  affair  to  your  utmost  vigilance.  Ger- 
many exceedingly  anxious  enter  into  close  relations  with  new  govern- 
ment of  Turkey.  Fear  Kosuth's  association  with  Bernadine  proof 
of  bad  faith.  Have  had  interview  with  Minister  for  foreign  affairs, 
who  relies  upon  our  help.  French  Secret  Service  at  your  disposal, 
if  necessary. 

Peter  read  the  message  three  times  with  the  greatest  care. 
He  was  on  the  point  of  destroying  it  when  Violet  came"  into 
the  room.  She  was  wearing  a  long  tea  jacket  of  sheeny  silk. 
Her  beautiful  hair  was  most  becomingly  arranged,  her 
figure  as  light  and  girlish  as  ever.  She  came  into  the  room 
humming  gayly  and  swinging  a  gold  purse  upon  her  finger. 

"  Won  three  rubbers  out  of  four,  Peter,"  she  declared, 
"  and  a  compliment  from  the  Duchess.  Am  I  a  pupil  to  be 
proud  of  ?  " 

She  stopped  short.  Her  lips  formed  themselves  into  the 
shape  of  a  whistle.  She  knew  very  well  the  signs.  Her  hus- 
band's eyes  were  kindling,  there  was  a  firm  set  about  his 
lips,  the  palm  of  his  hand  lay  flat  upon  that  sheet  of  paper. 

"  It  was  true.''  "  she  murmured.  "  It  was  Bernadine  who 
was  shooting  to-day?  " 

Peter  nodded. 

"  He  was  on  the  next  stand,"  he  replied. 

"  Then  there  is  something  doing,  of  course,"  Violet  con- 
tinued. "  My  dear  Peter,  you  may  be  an  enigma  to  other 
people.  To  me  you  have  the  most  expressive  countenance 
I  ever  saw.  You  have  had  a  cable  which  you  have  just 
transcribed.  If  I  had  been  a  few  minutes  later,  I  think 
you  would  have  torn  up  the  result.  As  it  is,  I  think  I  have 
come  just  in  time  to  hear  all  about  it." 


3o6    PETER   RUFF   AND   THE   DOUBLE-FOUR 

Peter  smiled,  grimly  but  fondly.  He  uncovered  the  sheet 
of  paper  and  placed  it  in  her  hands. 

"  So  far,"  he  said,  "  there  is  n't  much  to  tell  you.  Von 
Hern  turned  up  this  morning  with  a  Major  Kosuth,  who 
was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  in  Turkey.  I  wired 
Paris  and  this  is  the  reply." 

She  read  the  message  through  thoughtfully  and  handed 
it  back.  Peter  lit  a  match,  and  standing  over  the  fireplace 
calmly  destroyed  it. 

"  A  million  pounds  is  not  a  great  sum  of  money,"  Violet 
remarked.  "  Why  could  not  Kosuth  borrow  it  for  his 
country  from  a  private  individual?  " 

*'  A  million  pounds  is  not  a  large  sum  to  talk  about," 
Peter  replied,  "  but  it  is  an  exceedingly  large  sum  for  any 
one,  even  a  multi-millionaire,  to  handle  in  cash.  And 
Turkey,  I  gather,  wants  it  at  once.  Besides,  considerations 
which  might  be  a  security  from  a  government,  are  no  se- 
curity at  all  as  apphed  to  a  private  individual." 

She  nodded. 

*'  Do  you  think  that  Kosuth  means  to  go  behind  the 
existing  treaty  and  borrow  from  Germany.''  " 

Peter  shook  his  head. 

"  I  can't  quite  believe  that,"  he  said.  "  It  would 
mean  the  straining  of  diplomatic  relations  with  both  coun- 
tries.    It  is  out  of  the  question." 

"  Then  where  does  Bernadine  come  in.^*  " 

"  I  do  not  know,"  Peter  answered. 

Violet  laughed. 

"What  is  it  that  you  are  going  to  try  and  find  out.''" 
she  asked. 

"  I  am  trying  to  discover  who  it  is  that  Bernadine 
and  Kosuth  are  waiting  to  see,"  Peter  replied.  "  The 
worst  of  it  is,  I  daren't  leave  here.  I  shall  have  to  trust  to 
the  others." 


MAJOR  KOSUTH'S   MISSION  307 

She  glanced  at  the  clock. 

"  Well,  go  and  dress,"  she  said.  "  I  'm  afraid  I  've  a 
little  of  your  blood  in  me,  after  all.  Life  seems  more  stir- 
ring when  Bemadine  is  on  the  scene." 

The  shooting  party  broke  up  two  days  later  and  Peter  and 
his  wife  returned  at  once  to  town.  The  former  found  the 
reports  which  were  awaiting  his  arrival  disappointing. 
Bemadine  and  his  guest  were  not  in  London,  or  if  they 
were  they  had  carefully  avoided  all  the  usual  haunts. 
Peter  read  his  reports  over  again,  smoked  a  very  long 
cigar  alone  in  his  study,  and  finally  drove  down  to  the  city 
and  called  upon  his  stockbroker,  who  was  also  a  personal 
friend.  Things  were  flat  in  the  city,  and  the  latter  was 
glad  enough  to  welcome  an  important  client.  He  began 
talking  the  usual  market  shop  until  his  visitor  stopped 
him. 

"  I  have  come  to  you,  Edwardes,  more  for  information 
than  anything,"  Peter  declared,  "  although  it  may  mean 
that  I  shall  need  to  sell  a  lot  of  stock.  Can  you  tell  me  of 
any  private  financier  who  could  raise  a  loan  of  a  million 
pounds  in  cash  within  the  course  of  a  week.''  " 

The  stockbroker  looked  dubious. 

"  In  cash,"  he  repeated.  "  Money  is  n't  raised  that  way, 
you  know.  I  doubt  whether  there  are  many  men  in  the 
whole  city  of  London  who  could  put  up  such  an  amount 
with  only  a  week's  notice." 

*'  But  there  must  be  some  one,"  Peter  persisted^ 
"  Think !  It  would  probably  be  a  firm  or  a  man  not 
obtrusively  English.  I  don't  think  the  Jews  would  touch 
it,  and  a  German  citizen  would  be  impossible." 

"  Semi-political,  eh?  " 

Peter  nodded. 

*'  It  is  rather  that  way,"  he  admitted. 


3o8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Would  your  friend  Count  von  Hern  be  likely  to  be 
concerned  in  it  ?  " 

"  Why?  "  Peter  asked,  with  immovable  face. 

"  Nothing,  only  I  saw  him  coming  out  of  Heseltine- 
Wrigge's  office  the  other  day,"  the  stockbroker  remarked, 
carelessly. 

"  And  who  is  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  ?  " 

"  A  very  wealthy  American  financier,"  the  stockbroker 
replied,  "  not  at  all  an  unlikely  person  for  a  loan  of  the 
sort  you  mention." 

"  American  citizen  ?  "  Peter  inquired. 

"  Without  a  doubt.  Of  German  descent,  I  should  say, 
but  nothing  much  left  of  it  in  his  appearance.  He  settled 
over  here  in  a  huff  because  New  York  society  would  n't 
receive  his  wife." 

"  I  remember  all  about  it,"  Peter  declared.  "  She  was 
a  chorus  girl,  was  n't  she.^  Nothing  particular  against  her, 
but  the  fellow  had  no  tact.    Do  you  know  him,  Edwardes  ?  " 

"  Slightly,"  the  stockbroker  answered. 

"  Give  me  a  letter  to  him,"  Peter  said.  "  Give  my  credit 
as  good  a  leg  as  you  can.  I  shall  probably  go  as  a 
borrower." 

Mr.  Edwardes  wrote  a  few  lines  and  handed  them  to  his 
client. 

"  Office  is  nearly  opposite,"  he  remarked.  "  Wish  you 
luck,  whatever  your  scheme  is." 

Peter  crossed  the  street  and  entered  the  building 
which  his  friend  had  pointed  out.  He  ascended  in  the 
lift  to  the  third  floor,  knocked  at  the  door  which  bore  Mr. 
Hesseltinc-Wrigge's  name,  and  almost  ran  into  the  arms 
of  a  charmingly  dressed  little  lady,  who  was  being  shown 
out  by  a  broad-shouldered,  typical  American.  Peter 
hastened  to  apologize. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said,  raising  his  hat.     "  I  was 


MAJOR   KOSUTHS   MISSION  309 

rather  in  a  hurry  and  I  quite  thought  I  heard  some  one  say 
'  Come  in.'  " 

The  lady  replied  pleasantly.  Her  companion,  who  was 
carrying  his  hat  in  his  hand,  paused  reluctantly. 

"  Did  you  want  to  see  me?  "  he  asked. 

"  If  you  are  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge,  I  did,"  Peter  ad- 
mitted. "  I  am  the  Baron  de  Grost,  and  I  have  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  you  from  Mr.  Edwardes." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  tore  open  the  envelope  and  glanced 
through  the  contents  of  the  note.  Peter,  meanwhile, 
looked  at  his  wife  with  genuine  but  respectfully  cloaked 
admiration.     The  lady  obviously  returned  his  interest. 

"  Why,  if  you  're  the  Baron  de  Grost,"  she  exclaimed, 
"didn't  you  marry  Vi  Brown .f^  She  used  to  be  at  the 
Gaiety  with  me,  years  ago." 

"  I  certainly  did  marry  Violet  Brown,"  Peter  confessed, 
"  and,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  say  so,  Mrs.  Heseltine- 
Wrigge,  I  should  have  recognized  you  anywhere  from  your 
photographs." 

"  Say,  is  n't  that  queer?  "  the  little  lady  remarked, 
turning  to  her  husband.     "  I  should  love  to  see  Vi  again." 

"  If  you  will  give  me  your  address,"  Peter  declared, 
promptly,  "  my  wife  will  be  delighted  to  call  upon  you." 

The  man  looked  up  from  the  note. 

"Do  you  want  to  talk  business  with  me,  Baron?"  he 
asked. 

"  For  a  few  moments  only,"  Peter  answered.  "  I  am 
afraid  I  am  a  great  nuisance,  and  if  you  wish  it  I  will 
come  down  to  the  city  again." 

"  That 's  all  right,"  ]\Ir.  Heseltine-Wrigge  replied. 
"  Myra  won't  mind  waiting  a  minute  or  two.  Come 
through  here." 

He  turned  and  led  the  way  into  a  quiet-looking  suite 
of  offices,  where  one  or  two  clerks  were  engaged  writing 


310    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

at  open  desks.  They  all  three  passed  into  an  inner 
room. 

"  Any  objections  to  my  wife  coming  in?  "  Mr.  Heseltine- 
Wrigge  asked.  "  There  's  scarcely  any  place  for  her  out 
there." 

"  Delighted,"  Peter  answered. 

She  glanced  at  the  clock. 

"  Remember  we  have  to  meet  the  Count  von  Hern  at 
half  past  one  at  Prince's,  Charles,"  she  reminded  him. 

Her  husband  nodded.  There  was  nothing  in  Peter's 
expression  to  denote  that  he  had  already  achieved  the  first 
object  of  his  visit ! 

"  I  shall  not  detain  you,"  he  said.  "  Your  name  has 
been  mentioned  to  me,  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge,  as  a  financier 
likely  to  have  a  large  sum  of  money  at  his  disposal.  I 
have  a  scheme  which  needs  money.  Providing  the  security 
is  unexceptionable,  are  you  in  a  position  to  do  a  deal.''  " 

"  How  much  do  you  want.^*  "    Mr  Heseltine-Wrigge  asked. 

"  A  million  to  a  million  and  a  half,"  Peter  answered. 

"Dollars.?" 

"  Pounds." 

It  was  not  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge's  pose  to  appear 
surprised.    Nevertheless,  his  eyebrows  were  slightly  raised. 

"  Say,  what  is  this  scheme.'^  "  he  inquired. 

"  First  of  all,"  Peter  replied,  "  I  should  like  to  know 
whether  there  's  any  chance  of  business  if  I  disclose  it." 

"  Not  an  atom,"  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  declared.  "  I 
have  just  committed  myself  to  the  biggest  financial  trans- 
action of  my  life  and  it  will  clean  me  out." 

"  Then  I  won't  waste  your  time,"  Peter  announced, 
rising. 

"  Sit  down  for  a  moment,"  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  invited^ 
biting  the  end  off  a  cigar  and  passing  the  box  toward 
Peter.     "  That 's  all  right.     My  wife  does  n't  mind.     Say, 


MAJOR  KOSUTH'S  MISSION  311 

it  strikes  me  as  rather  a  curious  thing  that  you  should 
come  in  here  and  talk  about  a  million  and  a  half,  when 
that 's  just  the  amount  concerned  in  my  other  little  deal." 

Peter  smiled. 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  n't  at  all  queer,"  he  answered. 
"  I  don't  want  the  money.  I  came  to  see  whether  you 
were  really  interested  in  the  other  affair  —  the  Turkish 
loan,  you  know." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  withdrew  his  cigar  from  his  mouth 
and  looked  steadily  at  his  visitor. 

"  Say,  Baron,"  he  declared,  "  you  've  got  a  nerve !  " 

**  Not  at  all,"  Peter  replied.  "  I  'm  here  as  much  in  your 
interests  as  my  own." 

"  Whom  do  you  represent,  anyway.?  "  Mr.  Heseltine- 
Wrigge  inquired. 

"  A  company  you  have  never  heard  of,"  Peter  replied. 
"  Our  offices  are  in  the  underground  places  of  the  world,  and 
we  don't  run  to  brass  plates.  I  am  here  because  I  am  curi- 
ous about  that  loan.  Turkey  has  n't  a  shadow  of  security 
to  offer  you.  Everything  which  she  can  pledge  is  pledged, 
to  guarantee  the  interest  on  existing  loans  to  France  and 
England.  She  is  prevented  by  treaty  from  borrowing  in 
Germany.  If  you  make  a  loan  without  security,  Mr. 
Heseltine-Wrigge,  I  suppose  you  understand  your  position. 
The  loan  may  be  repudiated  at  any  moment." 

"Kind  of  a  philanthropist,  aren't  you.  Baron.?"  Mr. 
Heseltine-Wrigge  remarked  quietly. 

"  Not  in  the  least,"  Peter  assured  him.  "  I  know  there  's 
some  tricky  work  going  on  and  I  have  n't  brains  enough  to 
get  to  the  bottom  of  it.  That 's  why  I  've  come  blundering 
in  to  you,  and  why  I  suppose  you  '11  be  telling  the  whole 
story  to  the  Count  von  Hem  at  luncheon  in  an  hour's  time." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  smoked  in  silence  for  a  moment 
or  two. 


312     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  This  transaction  of  mine,"  he  said  at  last,  "  is  n't  one 
I  can  talk  about.  I  guess  I  'm  on  to  what  you  want  to 
know,  but  I  simply  can't  tell  you.  The  security  is  unusual, 
but  it 's  good  enough  for  me." 

"  It  seems  so  to  you,  beyond  a  doubt,"  Peter  replied. 
"  Still,  you  have  to  do  with  a  remarkably  clever  young  man 
in  the  Count  von  Hern.  I  don't  want  to  ask  you  any  ques- 
tions you  feel  I  ought  not  to,  but  I  do  wish  you  'd  tell  me 
one  thing." 

"  Go  right  ahead,"  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  invited. 
"  Don't  be  shy." 

"  What  day  are  you  concluding  this  affair  ?  " 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  scratched  his  chin  for  a  moment 
thoughtfully  and  glanced  at  his  diary. 

"  Well,  I  '11  risk  that,"  he  decided.  "  A  week  to-day  I 
hand  over  the  coin." 

Peter  drew  a  little  breath  of  relief.  A  week  was  an 
immense  time !    He  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  That  ends  our  business,  then,  for  the  present,"  he  said. 
"  Now  I  am  going  to  ask  both  of  you  a  favor.  Perhaps  I 
have  no  right  to,  but  as  a  man  of  honor,  Mr.  Heseltine- 
Wrigge,  you  can  take  it  from  me  that  I  ask  it  in  your 
interests  as  well  as  my  own.  Don't  tell  the  Count  von  Hern 
of  my  visit  to  you." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  held  out  his  hand. 

"  That 's  all  right,"  he  declared.     "  You  hear,  Myra?  " 

"  I  '11  be  dumb,  Baron,"  she  promised.  "  Say,  when  do 
you  think  Vi  can  come  and  see  me?  " 

Peter  was  guilty  of  snobbery.  He  considered  it  quite  a 
justifiable  weapon. 

"  She  is  at  Windsor  this  afternoon,"  he  remarked. 

"  What,  at  the  Garden-Party .?  "  Mrs.  Heseltine-Wrigge 
almost  shrieked. 

Peter  nodded. 


MAJOR   KOSUTH'S   MISSION  313 

"  I  believe  there  's  some  fete  or  other  to-morrow,"  he 
said,  "  but  we  're  alone  this  evening.  Why  won't  you  dine 
with  us,  say  at  the  Carlton?  " 

"  We  'd  love  to,"  the  lady  assented,  promptly. 

"  At  eight  o'clock,"  Peter  said,  taking  his  leave. 

The  dinner  party  was  a  great  success.  Mrs.  Heseltine- 
Wrigge  found  herself  among  the  class  of  people  with  whom 
it  was  her  earnest  desire  to  become  acquainted,  and  her 
husband  was  well  satisfied  to  see  her  keen  longing  for  so- 
ciety likely  to  be  gratified.  The  subject  of  Peter's  call  at 
the  office  in  the  city  was  studiously  ignored.  It  was  not 
until  the  very  end  of  the  evening,  indeed,  that  the  host  of 
this  very  agreeable  party  was  rewarded  by  a  single  hint. 
It  all  came  about  in  the  most  natural  manner.  They  were 
speaking  of  foreign  capitals." 

"  I  love  Paris,"  Mrs.  Heseltine-Wrigge  told  her  host. 
"  Just  adore  it.  Charles  is  often  there  on  business  and  I 
always  go  along." 

Peter  smiled.    There  was  just  a  chance  here. 

"  Your  husband  does  not  often  have  to  leave  London, 
though,"  he  remarked,  carelessly. 

She  nodded. 

"  Not  often  enough,"  she  declared.  "  I  just  love  getting 
about.  Last  week  we  had  a  perfectly  horrible  trip,  though. 
We  started  off  for  Belfast  quite  unexpectedly,  and  I  hated 
every  minute  of  it." 

Peter  smiled  inwardly,  but  he  said  never  a  word.  His 
companion  was  already  chattering  on  about  something  else. 
Peter  crossed  the  hall  a  few  minutes  later,  to  speak  to  an 
acquaintance,  slipped  out  to  the  telephone  booth  and  spoke 
to  his  servant. 

"  A  bag  and  a  change,"  he  ordered,  "  at  Euston  Sta- 
tion at  twelve  o'clock,  in  time  for  the  Irish  mail.  Your 
mistress  will  be  home  as  usual." 


314     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

An  hour  later  the  dinner  party  broke  up.  Early  the 
next  morning,  Peter  crossed  the  Irish  Channel.  He  re- 
turned the  following  day  and  crossed  again  within  a  few 
hours.  In  five  days  the  affair  was  finished,  except  for  the 
denouement. 

Peter  ascended  in  the  lift  to  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge's 
office  the  following  Thursday,  calm  and  unruffled  as  usual, 
but  nevertheless  a  little  exultant.  It  was  barely  half 
an  hour  since  he  had  become  finally  prepared  for  this 
interview.  He  was  looking  forward  to  it  now  with  feelings 
of  undiluted  satisfaction.  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  was  in, 
he  was  told,  and  he  was  at  once  admitted  to  his  presence. 
The  financier  greeted  him  with  a  somewhat  curious 
smile. 

"  Say,  this  is  very  nice  of  you  to  look  me  up 
again !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Still  worrying  about  that  loan, 
eh?  " 

Peter  shook  his  head. 

"  No,  I  'm  not  worrying  about  that  any  more,"  he 
answered,  accepting  one  of  his  host's  cigars.  "  The  fact 
of  it  is  that  if  it  were  not  for  me,  you  would  be  the  one 
who  would  have  to  do  the  worrying." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  stopped  short  in  the  act  of 
lighting  his  cigar. 

"  I  'm  not  quite  on,"  he  remarked.  **  What 's  the 
trouble?" 

"  There  is  no  trouble,  fortunately,"  Peter  replied. 
"  Only  a  little  disappointment  for  our  friends  the  Count 
von  Hem  and  Major  Kosuth.  I  have  brought  you  some 
information  which  I  think  will  put  an  end  to  that  affair 
of  the  loan." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  sat  quite  still  for  a  moment.  His 
brows  were  knitted,  he  showed  no  signs  of  nervousness. 

"  Go  right  on,"  he  said. 


MAJOR  KOSUTH'S   MISSION  315 

"  The  security  upon  which  you  were  going  to  advance 
a  million  and  a  half  to  the  Turkish  Government,"  Peter 
continued,  "  consisted  of  two  Dreadnoughts  and  a  cruiser, 
being  built  to  the  order  of  that  country  by  Messrs.  Shep- 
herd &  Hargreaves  at  Belfast," 

"  Quite  right,"  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  admitted,  quietly. 
"  I  have  been  up  and  seen  the  boats.  I  have  seen  the 
shipbuilders,  too." 

"  Did  you  happen  to  mention  to  the  latter,"  Peter  in- 
quired, "  that  you  were  advancing  money  upon  those 
vessels  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not,"  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  replied.  "  Ko- 
suth  would  n't  hear  of  such  a  thing.  If  the  papers  got 
wind  of  it,  there  'd  be  the  devil  to  pay.  All  the  same,  I 
have  got  an  assignment  from  the  Turkish  Government." 

"  Not  worth  the  paper  it 's  written  on,"  Peter  declared, 
blandly. 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  rose  unsteadily  to  his  feet.  He 
was  a  strong,  silent  man,  but  there  was  a  queer  look  about 
his  mouth. 

"  What  the  devil  do  you  mean?  "  he  demanded. 

"  Briefly,  this,"  Peter  explained.  "  The  first  payment, 
when  these  ships  were  laid  down,  was  made  not  by  Turkey 
but  by  an  emissary  of  the  German  Government,  who  ar- 
ranged the  whole  affair  in  Constantinople.  The  second 
payment  was  due  ten  months  ago,  and  not  a  penny  has 
been  paid.  Notice  was  given  to  the  late  government  twice 
and  absolutely  ignored.  According  to  the  charter,  there- 
fore, these  ships  reverted  to  the  shipbuilding  company, 
who  retained  possession  of  the  first  payment  as  indemnity 
against  loss.  The  Count  von  Hern's  position  was  this. 
He  represents  the  German  Government.  You  were  to  find 
a  million  and  a  half  of  money  with  the  ships  as  security. 
You  also  have  a  contract  from  the  Count  von  Hern  to 


3i6    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

take  those  ships  off  your  hands  provided  the  interest  on 
the  loan  became  overdue,  a  state  of  affairs  which  I  can 
assure  you  would  have  happened  within  the  next  twelve 
months.  Practically,  therefore,  you  were  made  use  of 
as  an  independent  financier  to  provide  the  money  with 
which  the  Turkish  Government,  broadly  speaking,  have 
sold  the  ships  to  Germany,  You  see,  according  to  the 
charter  of  the  shipbuilding  company,  these  vessels  cannot 
be  sold  to  any  foreign  government  without  the  consent  of 
Downing  Street.  That  is  the  reason  why  the  affair  had 
to  be  conducted  in  such  a  roundabout  manner." 

"  All  this  is  beyond  me,"  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  said, 
hoarsely.  "  I  don't  care  a  d — n  who  has  the  ships  in  the 
end  so  long  as  I  get  my  money !  " 

"  But  you  would  not  get  your  money,"  Peter  pointed 
out,  "  because  there  will  be  no  ships.  I  have  had  the 
shrewdest  lawyers  in  the  Avorld  at  work  upon  the  charter, 
and  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  these  vessels  are, 
or  rather  were,  the  entire  property  of  Messrs.  Shepherd, 
&  Hargreaves.  To-day  they  belong  to  me.  I  have  bought 
them  and  paid  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  deposit.  I 
can  show  you  the  receipt  and  all  the  papers." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge,  said  only  one  word,  but  that  word 
was  profane. 

"  I  am  sorry,  of  course,  that  you  have  lost  the  business," 
Peter  concluded,  "  but  surely  it 's  better  than  losing  your 
money?  " 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  struck  the  table  fiercely  with  his 
fist.  There  was  a  gray  and  unfamiliar  look  about  his 
face. 

"  D — n  it,  the  money  's  gone !  "  he  declared,  hoarsely. 
"  They  changed  the  day.  Kosuth  had  to  go  back.  I 
paid   it  twenty-four  hours   ago." 

Peter  whistled  softly. 


MAJOR   KOSUTH'S   MISSION  317 

"  If  only  you  had  trusted  me  a  little  more !  "  he  mur- 
mured.    "  I  tried  to  warn  you." 

Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  snatched  up  his  hat. 

"  They  don't  leave  till  the  two-twenty,"  he  shouted. 
"  We  '11  catch  them  at  the  Milan.  If  we  don't,  I  'm  ruined ! 
By   God,   I'm   ruined!"  .   .   . 

They  found  Major  Kosuth  in  the  hall  of  the  hotel.  He 
was  wearing  a  fur  coat  and  was  othei'wise  attired  for  travel- 
ing. His  luggage  was  already  being  piled  upon  a  cab.  Mr. 
Heseltine-Wrigge  wasted  no  words  upon  him. 

"  You  and  I  have  got  to  have  a  talk,  right  here  and 
now,"  he  declared.     "  Where  's  the  Count  ?  " 

Major  Kosuth  frowned  gloomily, 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,"  he  said,  shortly.  "  Our 
business  is  concluded  and  I  am  leaving  by  the  two-twenty 
train." 

"  You  are  doing  nothing  of  the  sort,"  the  American 
answered,  standing  before  him,  grim  and  threatening. 

The  Turk  showed  no  sign  of  terror.  He  gripped  his 
silver-headed  cane  firmly. 

"  I  think,"  he  said,  "  that  there  is  no  one  here  who 
will  prevent  me." 

Peter,  who  saw  a  fracas  imminent,  hastily  intervened. 

"  If  you  will  permit  me  for  a  moment,"  he  said,  "  there 
is  a  little  explanation  I  should  perhaps  make  to  Major 
Kosuth." 

The  Turk  took  a  step  towards  the  door. 

"  I  have  no  time  to  listen  to  explanations  from  you  or 
any  one,"  he  replied.  "  My  cab  is  waiting.  I  depart.  If 
Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  is  not  satisfied  with  our  transac- 
tion, I  am  sorry,  but  it  is  too  late  to  alter  anything." 

For  a  moment  it  seemed  as  though  a  struggle  between 
the  two  men  was  inevitable.  Already  people  were  glanc- 
ing at  them  curiously,  for  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  came  of 


3i8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

a  primitive  school,  and  he  had  no  intention  whatever  of 
letting  his  man  escape.  Fortunately,  at  that  moment 
Count  von  Hern  came  up  and  Peter  at  once  appealed 
to  him. 

"  Count,"  he  said,  "  may  I  beg  for  your  good  offices  ? 
My  friend,  Mr,  Heseltine-Wrigge  here,  is  determined  to 
have  a  few  words  with  Major  Kosuth  before  he  leaves. 
Surely  this  is  not  an  unreasonable  request  when  you  con- 
sider the  magnitude  of  the  transaction  which  has  taken 
place  between  them !  Let  me  beg  of  you  to  persuade 
Major  Kosuth  to  give  us  ten  minutes.  There  is  plenty 
of  time  for  the  train,  and  this  is  not  the  place  for  a 
brawl." 

"  It  will  not  take  us  long,  Kosuth,  to  hear  what  our 
friend  has  to  say,"  he  remarked.  "  We  shall  be  quite 
quiet  in  the  smoking-room.  Let  us  go  in  there  and  dispose 
of  the  affair." 

The  Turk  turned  unwillingly  in  the  direction  indicated. 
All  four  men  passed  through  the  cafe,  up  some  stairs, 
and  into  the  small  smoking-room.  The  room  was  de- 
serted. Peter  led  the  way  to  the  far  corner,  and  standing 
with  his  elbow  leaning  upon  the  mantelpiece,  addressed 
them. 

"  The  position  is  this,"  he  said.  "  Mr.  Heseltine- 
Wrigge  has  parted  with  a  million  and  a  half  of  his  own 
money,  a  loan  to  the  Turkish  Government,  on  security 
which  is  not  worth  a  snap  of  the  fingers." 

"  It  is  a  lie !  "  Major  Kosuth  exclaimed. 

"  My  dear  Baron,  you  are  woefully  misinformed,"  the 
Count  declared. 

Peter  shook  his  head  slowly. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  I  am  not  misinformed.  My  friend  here 
has  parted  with  the  money  on  the  security  of  two  battle- 
ships  and   a  cruiser,  now  building  in   Shepherd  &  Har- 


MAJOR  KOSUTH'S   MISSION  319 

greaves'  yard  at  Belfast.  The  two  battleships  and  cruiser 
in  question  belong  to  me.  I  have  paid  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  pounds  on  account  of  them,  and  hold  the  ship- 
builder's receipt." 

"  You  are  mad !  "  Bernadine  cried,  contemptuously. 

Peter  shook  his  head  and  continued. 

"  The  battleships  were  laid  down  for  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment, and  the  money  with  which  to  start  them  was 
supplied  by  the  Secret  Service  of  Germany.  The  second 
installment  was  due  ten  months  ago  and  has  not  been  paid. 
The  time  of  grace  provided  for  has  expired.  The  ship- 
builders, in  accordance  with  their  charter,  were  conse- 
quently at  liberty  to  dispose  of  the  vessels  as  they  thought 
fit.  On  the  statement  of  the  whole  of  the  facts  to  the  head 
of  the  firm,  he  has  parted  with  these  ships  to  me.  I  need 
not  say  that  I  have  a  purchaser  within  a  mile  from  here.  It 
is  a  fancy  of  mine.  Count  von  Hern,  that  those  ships  will 
sail  better  under  the  British  flag." 

There  was  a  moment's  tense  silence.  The  face  of  the 
Turk  was  black  with  anger.  Bernadine  was  trembling  with, 
rage. 

"  This  is  a  tissue  of  lies !  "  he  exclaimed. 

Peter  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  The  facts  are  easy  enough  for  you  to  prove,"  he  said, 
"  and  I  have  here,"  he  added,  producing  a  roll  of  papers, 
"  copies  of  the  various  documents  for  your  inspection. 
Your  scheme,  of  course,  was  simple  enough.  It  fell 
through  for  this  one  reason  only.  A  final  notice,  pressing 
for  the  second  installment  and  stating  the  days  of  grace, 
was  forwarded  to  Constantinople  about  the  time  of  the 
recent  political  troubles.  The  late  government  ignored  it. 
In  fairness  to  Major  Kosuth,  we  will  believe  that  the  pres- 
ent government  was  ignorant  of  it.  But  the  fact  remains 
that  Messrs.  Shepherd  &  Hargreaves  became  at  liberty  to 


320     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

sell  those  vessels,  and  that  I  have  bought  them.  You  will 
have  to  give  up  that  money,  Major  Kosuth." 

"  By  God,  he  shall !  "  the  American  muttered. 

Bernadine  leaned  a  little  towards  his  enemy. 

"  You  must  give  us  a  minute  or  two,"  he  insisted.  "  We 
shall  not  go  away,  I  promise  you.  Within  five  minutes 
you  shall  hear  our  decision." 

Peter  sat  down  at  the  writing-table  and  commenced  a 
letter.  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  mounted  guard  over  the 
door  and  stood  there,  a  grim  figure  of  impatience.  Before 
the  five  minutes  was  up,  Bernadine  crossed  the  room. 

"  I  congratulate  you.  Baron,"  he  said,  dryly.  "  You 
are  either  an  exceedingly  lucky  person  or  you  are  more 
of  a  genius  than  I  believe.  Kosuth  is  even  now  returning 
his  letters  of  credit  to  your  friend.  You  are  quite  right. 
The  loan  cannot  stand." 

"  I  was  sure,"  Peter  answered,  "  that  you  would  see  the 
matter  correctly." 

"  You  and  I,"  Bernadine  continued,  "  know  very  well 
that  I  don't  care  a  fig  about  Turkey,  new  or  old.  The 
ships  I  will  admit  that  I  intended  to  have  for  my  own 
country.  As  it  is,  I  wish  you  joy  of  them.  Before  they 
are  completed,  we  may  be  fighting  in  the  air." 

Peter  smiled,  and,  side  by  side  with  Bernadine,  strolled 
across  to  Heseltine-Wrigge,  who  was  buttoning  up  a 
pocket-book  with  trembling  fingers. 

"  Personally,"  Peter  said,  "  I  believe  that  the  days  of 
wars  are  over." 

"  That  may  or  may  not  be,"  Bernadine  answered. 
"  One  thing  is  very  certain.  Even  if  the  nations  remain 
at  peace,  there  are  enmities  which  strike  only  deeper  as 
the  years  pass.  I  am  going  to  take  a  drink  now  with  my 
disappointed  friend  Kosuth.  If  I  raise  my  glass  '  To  the 
Day  ! '  you  will  understand." 


MAJOR  KOSUTH'S   MISSION  321 

Peter  smiled. 

"  My  friend  Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge  and  I  are  for  the 
same  destination,"  he  replied,  pushing  open  the  swing 
door  which  led  to  the  bar.  "  I  return  your  good  wishes, 
Count.    I,  too,  drink  '  To  the  Day ! '  " 

Bernadine  and  Kosuth  left,  a  few  minutes  afterwards. 
Mr.  Heseltine-Wrigge,  who  was  feeling  himself  again, 
watched  them  depart  with  ill-concealed  triumph. 

"  Say,  you  had  those  fellows  on  toast.  Baron,"  he  de- 
clared, admiringly.  "  I  could  n't  follow  the  whole  affair, 
but  I  can  see  that  you  're  in  for  big  things  sometimes. 
Remember  this.  If  money  counts  at  any  time,  I  'm  with 
you." 

Peter  clasped  his  hand. 

"  Money  always  counts,"  he  said,  "  and  friends !  " 


CHAPTER    VIII 

THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN 

Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  glanced  at  the  card  which  his 
butler  had  brought  in  to  him,  carelessly  at  first,  afterwards 
with  that  curious  rigidity  of  attention  which  usually 
denotes  the  setting  free  of  a  flood  of  memories. 

"  The  gentleman  would  like  to  see  you,  sir,"  the  man 
announced. 

"  You  can  show  him  in  at  once,"  Peter  replied. 

The  servant  withdrew.  Peter,  during  those  few  min- 
utes of  waiting,  stood  with  his  back  to  the  room  and  his 
face  to  the  window,  looking  out  across  the  square,  in 
reality  seeing  nothing,  completely  immersed  in  this  strange 
flood  of  memories.  John  Dory  —  Sir  John  Dory  now  — 
his  quondam  enemy,  and  he,  had  met  but  seldom  during 
these  years  of  their  prosperity.  The  figure  of  this  man, 
who  had  once  loomed  so  largely  in  his  life,  had  gradually 
shrunk  away  into  the  background.  Their  avoidance  of 
each  other  arose,  perhaps,  from  a  sort  of  instinct  which 
was  certainly  no  matter  of  ill-will.  Still,  the  fact  remained 
that  they  had  scarcely  exchanged  a  word  for  years,  and 
Peter  turned  to  receive  his  unexpected  guest  with  a  curi- 
osity which  he  did  not  trouble  wholly  to  conceal. 

Sir  John  Dory  —  Chief  Commissioner  now  of  Scotland 
Yard,  a  person  of  weight  and  importance  —  had  changed 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         323 

a  great  deal  during  the  last  few  years.  His  hair  had 
become  gray,  his  walk  more  dignified.  There  was  the  brisk- 
ness, however,  of  his  best  days  in  his  carriage  and  in  the 
flash  of  his  brown  eyes.  He  held  out  his  hand  to  his 
ancient  foe  with  a  smile. 

"  My  dear  Baron,"  he  said,  "  I  hope  you  are  going  to 
say  that  you  are  glad  to  see  me." 

"  Unless,"  Peter  replied,  with  a  good-humored  grimace, 
"  your  visit  is  official,  I  am  more  than  glad  —  I  am 
charmed.  Sit  down.  I  was  just  going  to  take  my  morning 
cigar.  You  will  join  me.''  Good!  Now  I  am  ready  for 
the  worst  that  can  happen." 

The  two  men  seated  themselves.  John  Dory  pulled  at 
his  cigar  appreciatively,  sniffed  its  flavor  for  a  moment, 
and  then  leaned  forward  in  his  chair. 

"  My  visit,  Baron,"  he  announced,  "  is  semi-official.  I 
am  here  to  ask  you  a  favor." 

"An  official  favor.''"   Peter  demanded  quickly. 

His  visitor  hesitated  as  though  he  found  the  question 
hard  to   answer. 

"  To  tell  you  the  truth,"  he  declared,  "  this  call  of  mine 
is  wholly  an  inspiration.  It  does  not  in  any  way  concern 
you  personally,  or  your  position  in  this  country.  What 
that  may  be  I  do  not  know,  except  that  I  am  sure  it  is 
above  any  suspicion." 

"  Quite  so,"  Peter  murmured.  "  How  diplomatic  you 
have  become,  my  dear  friend !  " 

John  Doi'y  smiled. 

"  Perhaps  I  am  fencing  about  too  much,"  he  said.  "  I 
know,  of  course,  that  you  are  a  member  of  a  very  powerful 
and  wealthy  French  Society,  whose  object  and  aims,  so 
far  as  I  know,  are  entirely  harmless." 

"  I  am  delighted  to  be  assured  that  you  recognize  that 
fact,"  Peter  admitted. 


324    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  might  add,"  John  Dory  continued,  "  that  this  harm- 
lessness  —  is  of  recent  date." 

"  Really,  you  do  seem  to  know  a  good  deal,"  Peter 
confessed. 

"  I  find  myself  still  fencing,"  Dory  declared.  "  A  matter 
of  habit,  I  suppose.  I  did  n't  mean  to  when  I  came.  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  tell  you  simply  that  Guillot  was  in 
London,  and  to  ask  you  if  you  could  help  me  to  get 
rid   of  him." 

Peter  looked  thoughtfully  into  his  companion's  face, 
but  he  did  not  speak.  He  understood  at  such  moments 
the  value  of  silence. 

"  We  speak  together,"  Dory  continued  softly,  "  as  men 
who  understand  one  another.  Guillot  is  the  one  criminal 
in  Europe  whom  we  all  fear;  not  I  alone,  mind  you  —  it 
is  the  same  in  Berlin,  in  Petersburg,  in  Vienna.  He  has 
never  been  caught.  It  is  my  honest  belief  that  he  never 
will  be  caught.  At  the  same  time,  wherever  he  arrives  the 
thunder-clouds  gather.  He  leaves  behind  him  always  a 
trail  of  evil  deeds." 

"  Very  well  put,"  Peter  murmured.  "  Quite  pictur- 
esque." 

"  Can  you  help  me  to  get  rid  of  him?  "  Dory  inquired. 
"  I  have  my  hands  full  just  now,  as  you  can  imagine,  what 
with  the  political  crisis  and  these  constant  mass  meetings, 
I  want  Guillot  out  of  the  country.  If  you  can  manage  this 
for  me,  I  shall  be  your  eternal  debtor." 

"  Why  do  you  imagine,"  Peter  asked,  "  that  I  can  help 
you  in  this  matter?  " 

There  was  a  brief  silence.  John  Dory  knocked  the  ash 
from  his  cigar. 

"  Times  have  changed,"  he  said.  "  The  harmlessness 
of  your  great  Society,  my  dear  Baron,  is  at  present  ad- 
mitted.    But  there  were  days  —  " 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         325 

"  Exactly,"  Peter  interrupted.  "  As  shrewd  as  ever,  I  per- 
ceive.   Do  you  know  anything  of  the  object  of  his  coming.^  " 

«  Nothing." 

"  Anything  of  his  plans  ?  " 

"  Nothing." 

"  You  know  where  he  is  staying?  " 

"  Naturally,"  Dory  answered.  "  He  has  taken  a  second- 
floor  flat  in  Crayshaw  Mansions,  Shaftesbury  Avenue.  As 
usual,  he  is  above  all  petty  artifices.  He  has  taken  it 
under  the  name  of  Monsieur  Guillot." 

"  I  really  don't  know  whether  there  is  anything  I  can 
do,"  Peter  decided,  "  but  I  will  look  into  the  matter  for 
you,  with  pleasure.  Perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  bring,  a 
little  influence  to  bear  —  indirectly,  of  course.  If  so,  it 
is  at  your  service.     Lady  Dory  is  well,  I  trust  .f*  " 

"  In  the  best  of  health,"  Sir  John  replied,  accepting  the 
hint  and  rising  to  his  feet.    "  I  shall  hear  from  you  soon.^  " 

"  Without  a  doubt,"  Peter  answered.  "  I  must  certainly 
call  upon  Monsieur  Guillot."  .  .  . 

Peter  certainly  wasted  no  time  in  paying  his  promised 
visit.  That  same  afternoon  he  rang  the  bell  at  the  flat 
in  Crayshaw  Mansions.  A  typical  French  butler  showed 
him  into  the  room  where  the  great  man  sat.  Monsieur 
Guillot,  slight,  elegant,  pre-eminently  a  dandy,  was  loung- 
ing upon  a  sofa,  being  manicured  by  a  young  lady.  He 
threw  down  his  Petit  Journal  and  rose  to  his  feet,  however, 
at  his  visitor's  entrance. 

"  My  dear  Baron,"  he  exclaimed,  "  but  this  is  charming 
of  you!  Mademoiselle,"  he  added,  turning  to  the  mani- 
curist, "  you  will  do  me  the  favor  of  retiring  for  a  short 
time.     Permit  me." 

He  opened  the  door  and  showed  her  out.  Then  he  came 
back  to  Peter. 

"A  visit  of  courtesy.  Monsieur  le  Baron?"  he  asked. 


326    PETER   RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Without  a  doubt,"  Peter  replied. 

"  It  is  beyond  all  measure  charming  of  you,"  Guillot 
declared,  "  but  let  me  ask  you  a  little  question.  Is  it 
peace  or  war.^*  " 

"  It  is  what  you  choose  to  make  it,"  Peter  answered. 

The  man  threw  out  his  hands.  There  was  the  shadow 
of  a  frown  upon  his  pale  forehead.  It  was  a  matter  for 
protest,  this. 

"  Why  do  you  come.'^  "  he  demanded.  "  What  have  we 
in  common?  The  Society  has  expelled  me.  Very  well,  I 
go  my  own  way.  Why  not.''  I  am  free  of  your  control 
to-day.  You  have  no  more  right  to  interfere  with  my 
schemes  than  I  with  yours." 

"  We  have  the  ancient  right  of  power,"  Peter  said, 
grimly.  "  You  were  once  a  prominent  member  of  our  or- 
ganization, the  spoilt  protege  of  Madame,  a  splendid 
maker,  if  you  will,  of  criminal  history.  Those  days  have 
passed.  We  offered  you  a  pension  which  you  have  refused. 
It  is  now  our  turn  to  speak.  We  require  you  to  leave 
this  city  in  twenty-four  hours." 

The  man's  face  was  livid  with  anger.  He  was  of  the 
fair  type  of  Frenchman,  with  deep-set  eyes,  and  a  straight, 
cruel  mouth  only  partly  concealed  by  his  golden  mustache. 
Just  now,  notwithstanding  the  veneer  of  his  too  perfect 
clothes  and  civilized  air,  the  beast  had  leaped  out.  His 
face  was  like  the  face  of  a  snarling  animal. 

"  I  refuse !  "  he  cried.  "  It  is  I  who  refuse !  I  am  here 
on  my  own  affairs.  What  they  may  be  is  no  business 
of  yours  or  of  any  one  else's.  That  is  my  answer  to  you, 
Baron  de  Grost,  whether  you  come  to  me  for  yourself  or 
on  behalf  of  the  Society  to  which  I  no  longer  belong. 
That  is  my  answer  —  that  and  the  door,"  he  added, 
pressing  the  bell.  "  If  you  will,  we  fight.  If  you  are 
wise,  forget  this  visit  as  quickly  as  you  can." 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         327 

Peter  took  up  his  hat.  The  man-servant  was  already 
in  the  room. 

"  We  shall  probably  meet  again  before  your  return, 
Monsieur  Guillot,"  he  remarked. 

Guillot  had  recovered  himself.  His  smile  was  wicked, 
but  his  bow  perfection. 

"  To  the  fortunate  hour.  Monsieur  le  Baron ! "  he 
replied. 

Peter  drove  back  to  Berkeley  Square,  and  without  a 
moment's  hesitation  pressed  the  levers  which  set  to  work 
the  whole  underground  machinery  of  the  great  power 
which  he  controlled.  Thenceforward,  Monsieur  Guillot  was 
surrounded  with  a  vague  army  of  silent  watchers.  They 
passed  in  and  out  of  his  flat,  their  motor  cars  were  as  fast 
as  his  in  the  streets,  their  fancy  in  restaurants  identical 
with  his.  Guillot  moved  through  it  all  like  a  man  wholly 
unconscious  of  espionage,  showing  nothing  of  the  mur- 
derous anger  which  burned  in  his  blood.  The  reports  came 
to  Peter  every  hour,  although  there  was,  indeed,  nothing 
worth  chronicling.  Monsieur  Guillot's  visit  to  London 
would  seem,  indeed,  to  be  a  visit  of  gallantry.  He  spent 
most  of  his  time  with  Mademoiselle  Louise,  the  famous 
dancer.  He  was  prominent  at  the  Empire,  to  watch  her 
nightly  performance,  they  were  a  noticeable  couple  supping 
together  at  the  Milan  afterwards.  Monsieur  Guillot  was 
indeed  a  man  of  gallantry,  but  he  had  the  reputation  of 
using  these  affairs  to  cloak  his  real  purposes.  Those  who 
watched  him,  watched  only  the  more  closely.  Monsieur 
Guillot,  who  stood  it  very  well  at  first,  unfortunately  lost 
his  temper.  He  drove  in  the  great  motor  car  which  he 
had  brought  with  him  from  Paris,  to  Berkeley  Square,  and 
confronted  Peter. 

"  My  friend,"  he  exclaimed,  though  indeed  the  glitter 
in  his  eyes  knew  nothing  of  friendship,  "  it  is  intolerable, 


328    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

this  !  Do  you  think  that  I  do  not  see  through  these  dummy 
waiters,  these  obsequious  shopmen,  these  ladies  who  drop 
their  eyes  when  I  pass,  these  commissionaires,  these  would- 
be  acquaintances  ?  I  tell  you  that  they  irritate  me,  this  in- 
competent, futile  crowd.  You  pit  them  against  me !  Bah ! 
You  should  know  better.  When  I  choose  to  disappear, 
I  shall  disappear,  and  no  one  will  follow  me.  When  I 
strike,  I  shall  strike,  and  no  one  will  discover  what  my 
will  may  be.  You  are  out  of  date,  dear  Baron,  with  your 
third-rate  army  of  stupid  spies.  You  succeed  in  one  thing 
only  —  you  succeed  in  making  me  angry." 

"  It  is  at  least  an  achievement,  that,"  Peter  declared. 

*'  Perhaps,"  Monsieur  Guillot  admitted,  fiercely.  "  Yet 
mark  now  the  result.  I  defy  you,  you  and  all  of  them. 
Look  at  your  clock.  It  is  five  minutes  to  seven.  It  goes 
well,  that  clock,  eh?  " 

"  It  is  the  correct  time,"  Peter  said. 

"  Then  by  midnight,"  Guillot  continued,  shaking  his  fist 
in  the  other's  face,  "  I  shall  have  done  that  thing  which 
brought  me  to  England  and  I  shall  have  disappeared.  I 
shall  have  done  it  in  spite  of  your  watchers,  in  spite  of 
your  spies,  in  spite,  even,  of  you.  Monsieur  le  Baron  de 
Grost.  There  is  my  challenge.  Voila.  Take  it  up  if  you 
will.  At  midnight  you  shall  hear  me  laugh.  I  have  the 
honor  to  wish  you  good-night !  " 

Peter  opened  the  door  with  his  own  hands. 

"  This  is  excellent,"  he  declared.  "  You  are  now,  indeed, 
the  Monsieur  Guillot  of  old.  Almost  you  persuade  me  to 
take  up  your  challenge."      " 

Guillot  laughed  derisively. 

"  As  you  please !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  By  midnight  to- 
night !  " 

The  challenge  of  Monsieur  Guillot  was  issued  precisely 
at  four  minutes  before   seven.      On  his   departure,   Peter 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         329 

spent  the  next  half-hour  studying  certain  notes  and  sending 
various  telephone  messages.  Afterwards,  he  changed  his 
clothes  at  the  usual  time  and  sat  down  to  a  tete-a-tete 
dinner  with  his  wife.  Three  times  during  the  course  of 
the  meal  he  was  summoned  to  the  telephone,  and  from  each 
call  he  returned  more  perplexed.  Finally,  when  the  ser- 
vants had  left  the  room,  he  took  his  chair  around  to  his 
wife's  side. 

"  Violet,"  he  said,  "  you  were  asking  me  just  now  about 
the  telephone.  You  were  quite  right.  These  were  not 
ordinary  messages  which  I  have  been  receiving.  I  am 
engaged  in  a  little  matter  which,  I  must  confess,  perplexes 
me.     I  want  your  advice,  perhaps  your  help." 

"  I  am  quite  ready,"  she  answered,  smiling.  "  It  is  a 
long  time  since  you  gave  me  anything  to  do." 

"  You  have  heard  of  Guillot.?  " 

She  reflected  for  a  moment. 

"You  mean  the  wonderful  Frenchman,"  she  asked, 
"  the  head  of  the  criminal  department  of  the  Double- 
Four.? " 

"  The  man  who  was  at  its  head  when  it  existed.  The 
criminal  department,  as  you  know,  has  all  been  done  away 
with.  The  Double-Four  has  now  no  more  concern  with 
those  who  break  the  law,  save  in  those  few  instances  where 
great  issues  demand  it." 

"But  Monsieur  Guillot  still  exists.?" 

"  He  not  only  exists,"  answered  Peter,  "  but  he  is  here 
in  London,  a  rebel  and  a  defiant  one.  Do  you  know  who 
came  to  see  me  the  other  morning.?  " 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  Sir  John  Dory,"  Peter  continued.  "  He  came  here 
with  a  request.  He  begged  for  my  help.  Guillot  is  here, 
committed  to  some  enterprise  which  no  one  can  wholly 
fathom.     Dory  has  enough  to  do  with  other  things,   as 


330    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

you  can  imagine,  just  now.  Besides,  I  think  he  recognizes 
that  Monsieur  Guillot  is  rather  a  hard  nut  for  the  ordinary 
English  detective  to  crack." 

"And  you?"  she  demanded,  breathlessly. 

"  I  join  forces  with  Dory,"  Peter  admitted.  "  Sogrange 
agrees  with  me.  Guillot  was  associated  with  the  Double- 
Four  too  long  for  us  to  have  him  make  scandalous  history 
either  here  or  in  Paris." 

"  You  have   seen  him  ?  " 

"  I  have  not  only  seen  him,  but  declared  war  against 
him." 

"And  he?" 

"  Guillot  is  defiant,"  Peter  replied.  "  He  has  been  here 
only  this  evening.  He  mocks  at  me.  He  swears  that  he 
will  bring  off  this  enterprise,  whatever  it  may  be, 
before  midnight  to-night,  and  he  has  defied  me  to  stop 
him." 

"  But  you  will,"  she  murmured,  softly. 

Peter  smiled.  The  conviction  in  his  wife's  tone  was  a 
subtle  compliment  which  he  did  not  fail  to  appreciate. 

"  I  have  hopes,"  he  confessed,  "  and  yet,  let  me  tell  you 
this,  Violet.  I  have  never  been  more  puzzled.  Ask  your- 
self, now.  What  enterprise  is  there  worthy  of  a  man  like 
Guillot,  in  which  he  could  engage  himself  here  in  London 
between  now  and  midnight?  Any  ordinary  theft  is  be- 
neath him.  The  purloining  of  the  crown  jewels,  perhaps, 
he  might  consider,  but  I  don't  think  that  anything  less  in 
the  way  of  robbery  would  bring  him  here.  He  has  his 
code  and  he  is  as  vain  as  a  peacock.  Yet  money  is  at  the 
root  of  everything  he  does." 

"  How  does  he  spend  his  time  here  ?  "  Violet  asked. 

"  He  has  a  handsome  flat  in  Shaftesbury  Avenue,"  Peter 
answered,  "  where  he  lives,  to  all  appearance,  the  life  of  an 
idle  man  of  fashion.     The  whole  of  his  spare  time  is  spent 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         331 

with  Mademoiselle  Louise,  the  danseuse  at  the  Eminre. 
You  see,  it  is  half-past  eight  now.  I  have  eleven  men  alto- 
gether at  work,  and  according  to  my  last  report  he  was 
dining  with  her  in  the  grill-room  at  the  Milan.  They  have 
just  ordered  their  coffee  ten  minutes  ago,  and  the 
car  is  waiting  outside  to  take  Mademoiselle  to  the 
Empire.  Guillot's  box  is  engaged  there,  as  usual.  If 
he  proposes  to  occupy  it,  he  is  leaving  himself  a  very 
narrow  margin  of  time  to  carry  out  any  enterprise  worth 
speaking  of." 

Violet  was  thoughtful  for  several  moments.  Then  she 
crossed  the  room,  took  up  a  copy  of  an  illustrated  paper, 
and  brought  it  across  to  Peter.  He  smiled  as  he  glanced 
at  the  picture  to  which  she  pointed,  and  the  few  lines 
underneath. 

"  It  has  struck  you,  too,  then !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Good ! 
You  have  answered  me  exactly  as  I  hoped.  Somehow,  I 
scarcely  trusted  myself.  I  have  both  cars  waiting  outside. 
We  may  need  them.  You  won't  mind  coming  to  the 
Empire  with  me?  " 

"  Mind !  "  she  laughed.  "  I  only  hope  I  may  be  in  at  the 
finish." 

"  If  the  finish,"  Peter  remarked,  "  is  of  the  nature  which 
I  anticipate,  I  shall  take  particularly  good  care  that  you 
are  not." 

The  curtain  was  rising  upon  the  first  act  of  the  ballet 
as  they  entered  the  most  popular  music-hall  in  London 
and  were  shown  to  the  box  which  Peter  had  engaged.  The 
house  was  full  —  crowded,  in  fact,  almost  to  excess.  They 
had  scarcely  taken  their  seats  when  a  roar  of  applause 
announced  the  coming  of  Mademoiselle  Louise.  She  stood 
for  a  moment  to  receive  her  nightly  ovation,  a  slim,  beauti- 
ful creature,  looking  out  upon  the  great  house  with  that 
faint,  bewitching  smile  at  the  corners  of  her  lips,  which 


332     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

every  photographer  in  Europe  had  striven  to  reproduce. 
Then  she  moved  away  to  the  music,  an  exquisite  figure, 
the  personification  of  all  that  was  alluring  in  her  sex. 
Violet  leaned  forward  to  watch  her  movements  as  she 
plunged  into  the  first  dance.  Peter  was  occupied  looking 
around  the  house.  Monsieur  Guillot  was  there,  sitting 
insolently  forward  in  his  box,  sleek  and  immaculate.  He 
even  waved  his  hand  and  bowed  as  he  met  Peter's  eye. 
Somehow  or  other,  his  confidence  had  its  effect.  Peter 
began  to  feel  vaguely  troubled.  After  all,  his  plans  were 
built  upon  a  surmise.  It  was  so  easy  for  him  to  be  wrong. 
No  man  would  show  his  hand  so  openly,  unless  he  were  sure 
of  the  game.  Then  his  face  cleared  a  little.  In  the  box 
adjoining  Guillot's,  the  figure  of  a  solitary  man  was  just 
visible,  a  man  who  had  leaned  over  to  applaud  Louise, 
but  who  was  now  sitting  back  in  the  shadows.  Peter 
recognized  him  at  once,  notwithstanding  the  obscurity. 
This  was  so  much  to  the  good,  at  any  rate.  He  took  up 
his  hat. 

"  For  a  quarter  of  an  hour  you  will  excuse  me,  Violet," 
he  said.  "  Watch  Guillot.  If  he  leaves  his  place,  knock 
at  the  door  of  your  own  box,  and  one  of  my  men,  who  is 
outside,  will  come  to  you  at  once.  He  will  know  where 
to  find  me." 

Peter  hurried  away,  pausing  for  a  moment  in  the  prom- 
enade, to  scribble  a  line  or  two  at  the  back  of  one  of  his 
own  cards.  Presently  he  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  box 
adjoining  Guillot's  and  was  instantly  admitted.  Violet 
continued  her  watch.  She  remained  alone  until  the  curtain 
fell  upon  the  first  act  of  the  ballet.  A  few  minutes  later, 
Peter  returned.  She  knew  at  once  that  things  were  going 
well.     He  sank  into  a  chair  by  her  side. 

"  I  have  messages  every  five  minutes,"  he  whispered  in 
her  ear,  "  and  I  am  venturing  upon  a  bold  stroke.     There 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         333 

is  still  something  about  the  affair,  though,  which  I  cannot 
understand.  You  are  absolutely  sure  that  Guillot  has  not 
moved?  " 

Violet  pointed  with  her  program  across  the  house. 

"  There  he  sits,"  she  remarked.  "  He  left  his  chair  as 
the  curtain  went  down,  but  he  could  scarcely  have  gone 
out  of  the  box,  for  he  was  back  within  ten  seconds." 

Peter  looked  steadily  across  at  the  opposite  box.  Guillot 
was  sitting  a  little  further  back  now,  as  though  he  no 
longer  courted  observation.  Something  about  his  attitude 
puzzled  the  man  who  watched  him.  With  a  sudden  quick 
movement  he  caught  up  the  glasses  which  stood  by  his 
wife's  side.  The  curtain  was  going  up  for  the  second 
act,  and  Guillot  had  turned  his  head.  Peter  held  the 
glasses  only  for  a  moment  to  his  eyes,  and  then  glanced 
down  at  the  stage. 

"  My  God !  "  he  muttered.  "  The  man  's  a  genius ! 
Violet,  the  small  motor  is  coming  for  }^ou." 

He  was  out  of  the  box  in  a  single  step.  Violet  looked 
after  him,  looked  down  upon  the  stage  and  across  at 
Guillot's  box.     It  was  hard  to  understand.   .   .   . 

The  curtain  had  scarcely  rung  up  upon  the  second  act 
of  the  ballet  when  a  young  lady  who  met  from  all  the 
loungers,  and  even  from  the  doorkeeper  himself,  the  most 
respectful  attention,  issued  from  the  stage-door  at  the 
Empire  and  stepped  into  the  large  motor  car  which  was 
waiting,  drawn  up  against  the  curb.  The  door  was  opened 
from  inside  and  closed  at  once.  She  held  out  her  hands, 
as    yet  ungloved,  to  the  man  who  sat  back  in  the  corner. 

"  At  last !  "  she  murmured.  "  And  I  thought,  indeed, 
that  you  had  forsaken  me." 

He  took  her  hands  and  held  them  tightly,  but  he 
answered  only  in  a  whisper.  He  wore  a  sombre  black  cloak 
and  a  broad-brimmed  black  hat.     A  muffler  concealed  the 


334     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

lower  part  of  his  face.  She  put  her  finger  upon  the  electric 
light,  but  he  stopped  her. 

"  I  must  not  be  recognized,"  he  said  thickly.  "  Forgive 
me,  Louise,  if  I  seem  strange  at  first,  but  there  is  more  in 
it  than  I  can  tell  you.  No  one  must  know  that  I  am  in 
London  to-night.  When  we  reach  this  place  to  which  you 
are  taking  me,  and  we  are  really  alone,  then  we  can  talk. 
I  have  so  much  to  say." 

She  looked  at  him  doubtfully.  It  was  indeed  a  moment 
of  indecision  with  her.  Then  she  began  to  laugh 
softly. 

"  Dear  one,  but  you  have  changed !  "  she  exclaimed,  com- 
passionately. "  After  all,  why  not .''  I  must  not  forget 
that  things  have  gone  so  hardly  with  you.  It  seems  odd, 
indeed,  to  see  you  sitting  there,  muffled  up  like  an  old  man, 
afraid  to  show  yourself.  You  know  how  foolish  you  are.'' 
With  your  black  cape  and  that  queer  hat,  you  are  so 
different  from  all  the  others.  If  you  seek  to  remain  un- 
recognized, why  do  you  not  dress  as  all  the  men  do?  Any 
one  who  was  suspicious  would  recognize  you  from  your 
clothes." 

"  It  is  true,"  he  muttered.     "  I  did  not  think  of  it." 

She  leaned  towards  him. 

"You  will  not  even  kiss  me.''  "  she  murmured. 

"  Not  yet,"  he  answered. 

She  made  a  little  grimace. 

"  But  you  are  cold !  " 

"  You  do  not  understand,"  he  answered.  "  They  are 
watching  me  —  even  to-night  they  are  watching  me.  Oh, 
if  you  only  knew,  Louise,  how  I  have  longed  for  this  hour 
that  is  to  come  !  " 

Her  vanity  was  assuaged.  She  patted  his  hand  but 
came  no  nearer. 

"  You  are  a  foolish  man,"  she  said,  "  very  foolish." 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         335 

"  It  is  not  for  you  to  say  that,"  he  rcpHed.  "  If  I  have 
been  fooHsh,  were  not  you  often  the  cause  of  my  folly?  " 

Again  she  laughed. 

"  Oh,  la,  la !  It  is  always  the  same !  It  is  always  you 
men  who  accuse !  For  that  presently  I  shall  reprove  you. 
But  now  —  as  for  now,  behold,  we  have  arrived !  " 

"  It  is  a  crowded  thoroughfare,"  the  man  remarked, 
nervously,  looking  up  and  down  Shaftesbury  Avenue. 

"  Stupid !  "  she  cried,  stepping  out.  "  I  do  not  recognize 
you  to-night,  little  one.  Even  your  voice  is  different. 
Follow  me  quickly  across  the  pavement  and  up  the  stairs. 
There  is  only  one  flight.  The  flat  I  have  borrowed  is  on 
the  second  floor.  I  do  not  care  very  much  that  people 
should  recognize  me  either,  under  the  circumstances.  There 
is  nothing  they  love  so  much,"  she  added,  with  a  toss  of 
the  head,  "  as  finding  an  excuse  to  have  my  picture  in  the 
paper." 

He  followed  her  down  the  dim  hall  and  up  the  broad, 
flat  stairs,  keeping  always  some  distance  behind.  On  the 
first  landing  she  drew  a  key  from  her  pocket  and  opened 
a  door.  It  was  the  door  of  Monsieur  Guillot's  sitting-room. 
A  round  table  in  the  middle  was  laid  for  supper.  One  light 
alone,  and  that  heavily  shaded,  was  burning. 

"  Oh,  la,  la !  "  she  exclaimed.  "  How  I  hate  this  dark- 
ness !  Wait  till  I  can  turn  on  the  lights,  dear  friend,  and 
then  you  must  embrace  me.  It  is  from  outside,  I  believe. 
No,  do  not  follow.  I  can  find  the  switch  for  myself.  Re- 
main where  you  are.     I  return  instantly." 

She  left  him  alone  in  the  room,  closing  the  door  softly. 
In  the  passage  she  reeled  for  a  moment  and  caught  at  her 
side.  She  was  very  pale.  Guillot,  coming  swiftly  up  the 
steps,  frowned  as  he  saw  her. 

"  He  is  there?  "  he  demanded,  harshly. 

*'  He  is  there,"  Louise  replied,  "  but,  indeed,  I  am  angry 


336    PETER    RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

with  myself.  See,  I  am  faint.  It  is  a  terrible  thing,  this, 
which  I  have  done.  He  did  me  no  harm,  that  young  man, 
except  that  he  was  stupid  and  heavy,  and  that  I  never 
loved  him.    Who  could  love  him,  indeed !    But,  Guillot  —  " 

He  passed  on,  scarcely  heeding  her  words,  but  she  clung 
to  his  arm. 

"  Dear  one,"  she  begged,  "  promise  that  you  will  not 
really  hurt  him.  Promise  me  that,  or  I  will  shriek  out 
and  call  the  people  from  the  streets  here.  You  would  not 
make  an  assassin  of  me?    Promise !  " 

Guillot  turned  suddenly  towards  her  and  there  were 
strange  things  in  his  face.     He  pointed  down  the  stairs. 

"  Go  back,  Louise,"  he  ordered,  "  back  to  your  rooms, 
for  your  own  sake.  Remember  that  you  have  left  the  theatre 
too  ill  to  finish  your  performance.  You  have  had  plenty 
of  time  already  to  get  home.  Quick !  Leave  me  to  deal  with 
this  young  man.     I  tell  you  to  go." 

She  retreated  down  the  stairs,  dumb,  her  knees  shaking 
with  fear.  Guillot  entered  the  room,  closing  the  door 
behind  him.  Even  as  he  bowed  to  that  dark  figure  stand- 
ing in  the  corner,  his  left  hand  shot  forward  the  bolt. 

"  Monsieur,"  he  said  — 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  "  the  visitor  interrupted, 
haughtily.  "  I  am  expecting  Mademoiselle  Louise.  I  did 
not  understand  that  strangers  had  the  right  of  entry  into 
this  room." 

Guillot  bowed  low. 

"  Monsieur,"  he  said  once  more,  "  it  is  a  matter  for 
my  eternal  regret  that  I  am  forced  to  intrude  even  for 
a  moment  upon  an  assignation  so  romantic.  But  there 
is  a  little  matter  which  must  first  be  settled.  I  have  some 
friends  here  who  have  a  thing  to  say  to  you." 

He  walked  softly,  with  catlike  tread,  along  by  the  wall 
to  where  the  thick  curtains  shut  out  the  inner  apartment. 


'■'■Dear  one,'''  she  begged,  '■^promise  that  you  ^vill  '  Ji...  1... 

not  really  hurt  him.^'  ' 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         337 

He  caught  at  the  thick  velvet,  dragged  it  back,  and  the 
two  rooms  were  suddenly  flooded  with  light.  In  the  re- 
cently discovered  one,  two  stalwart-looking  men  in  plain 
n  clothes,  but  of  very  unmistakable  appearance,  were  stand- 
ing waiting.  Guillot  staggered  back.  They  were  strangers 
to  him.  He  was  like  a  man  who  looks  upon  a  nightmare. 
His  eyes  protruded.  The  words  which  he  tried  to  utter, 
failed  him.  Then,  with  a  swift,  nervous  presentiment,  he 
turned  quickly  around  towards  the  man  who  had  been 
standing  in  the  shadows.  Here,  too,  the  unexpected  had 
happened.  It  was  Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  who  threw  his 
muffler  and  broad-brimmed  hat  upon  the  table. 

"  Five  minutes  to  eleven,  I  believe,  Monsieur  Guillot," 
Peter  declared.     "  I  win  by  an  hour  and  five  minutes." 

Guillot  said  nothing  for  several  seconds.  After  all, 
though,  he  had  great  gifts.  He  recovered  alike  his  power 
of  speech  and  his  composure. 

"  These  gentlemen,"  he  said,  pointing  with  his  left  hand 
towards  the  inner  room  —  "I  do  not  understand  their 
presence  in  my  apartments." 

Peter  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  They  represent,  I  am  afraid,  the  obvious  end  of 
things,"  he  explained.  "  You  have  given  me  a  run  for  my 
money,  I  confess.  A  Monsieur  Guillot  who  is  remarkably 
like  you,  still  occupies  your  box  at  the  Empire,  and 
Mademoiselle  Jeanne  Lemere,  the  accomplished  understudy 
of  the  lady  who  has  just  left  us,  is  sufficiently  like  the 
incomparable  Louise  to  escape,  perhaps,  detection  for  the 
first  few  minutes.  But  you  gave  the  game  away  a  little, 
my  dear  Guillot,  when  you  allowed  your  quarry  to  come 
and  gaze  even  from  the  shadows  of  his  box  at  the  woman 
he  adored." 

"Where  is  — he.?"  Guillot  faltered. 

"  He  is  on  his  way  back  to  his  country  home,"  Peter 


338     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

replied.  "  I  think  that  he  will  be  cured  of  his  infatuation 
for  Mademoiselle.  The  assassins  whom  jou  planted  in 
that  room  are  by  this  time  in  Bow  Street.  The  price 
which  others  beside  you  knew,  my  dear  Guillot,  was  placed 
upon  that  unfortunate  young  man's  head,  will  not  pass 
this  time  into  your  pocket.     For  the  rest  —  " 

"  The  rest  is  of  no  consequence,"  Guillot  interrupted, 
bowing.  "  I  admit  that  I  am  vanquished.  As  for  those 
gentlemen  there,"  he  added,  waving  his  hand  towards  the 
two  men  who  had  taken  a  step  forward,  "  I  have  a  little 
oath  which  is  sacred  to  me  concerning  them.  I  take  the 
liberty,  therefore,  to  admit  myself  defeated.  Monsieur  le 
Baron,  and  to  take  my  leave." 

No  one  was  quick  enough  to  interfere.  They  had  only 
a  glimpse  of  him  as  he  stood  there  with  the  revolver  pressed 
to  his  temple,  an  impression  of  a  sharp  report,  of  Guillot 
staggering  back  as  the  revolver  slipped  from  his  fingers 
on  to  the  floor.  Even  his  death  cry  was  stifled.  They 
carried  him  away  without  any  fuss,  and  Peter  was  just  in 
time,  after  all,  to  see  the  finish  of  the  second  act  of  the 
ballet.  The  sham  Monsieur  Guillot  still  smirked  at  the 
sham  Louise,  but  the  box  by  his  side  was  empty. 

"  It  is  over.?  "  Violet  asked,  breathlessly. 

"  It  is  over,"  Peter  answered. 

It  was,  after  all,  an  unrecorded  tragedy.  In  an  obscure 
corner  of  the  morning  papers  one  learned  the  next  day 
that  a  Frenchman,  who  had  apparently  come  to  the  end 
of  his  means,  had  committed  suicide  in  a  furnished  flat  of 
Shaftesbury  Avenue.  Two  foreigners  were  deported  with- 
out having  been  brought  up  for  trial,  for  being  suspected 
persons.  A  little  languid  interest  was  aroused  at  the 
inquest  when  one  of  the  witnesses  deposed  to  the  deceased's 
having  been  a  famous  French  criminal.  Nothing  further 
transpired,   however,   and   the    readers    of   the   halfpenny 


THE  MAN  BEHIND  THE  CURTAIN         339 

press  for  once  were  deprived  of  their  sensation.  For  the 
rest,  Peter  received,  with  much  satisfaction,  a  remarkably 
handsome  signet  ring,  bearing  some  famous  arms,  and  a 
telegram  from  Sogrange :  "  Well  done.  Baron !  May  the 
successful  termination  of  your  enterprise  nerve  you  for 
the  greater  undertaking  which  is  close  at  hand.  I  leave 
for  London  by  the  night  train.     Sogrange." 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  GHOSTS  OF  HAVANA  HARBOR 

"  We  may  now,"  Sogrange  remarked,  buttoning  up  his 
ulster,  and  stretching  himself  out  to  the  full  extent  of  his 
steamer  chair,  "  consider  ourselves  at  sea.  I  trust,  my 
friend,  that  you  are  feeling  quite  comfortable." 

Peter,  lying  at  his  ease  upon  a  neighboring  chair,  with 
a  pillow  behind  his  head,  a  huge  fur  coat  around  his  body, 
and  a  rug  over  his  feet,  had  all  the  appearance  of  being 
very  comfortable  indeed.  His  reply,  however,  was  a  little 
short  —  almost  peevish. 

"  I  am  comfortable  enough  for  the  present,  thank  you. 
Heaven  knows  how  long  it  will  last !  " 

Sogrange  waved  his  arms  towards  the  great  uneasy 
plain  of  blue  sea,  the  showers  of  foam  leaping  into  the 
sunlight,  away  beyond  the  disappearing  coast  of  France. 

"  Last !  "  he  repeated.  "  For  eight  days,  I  hope.  Con- 
sider, my  dear  Baron !  What  could  be  more  refreshing, 
more  stimulating  to  our  jaded  nerves  than  this.'*  Think 
of  the  December  fogs  you  have  left  behind,  the  cold,  driving 
rain,  the  puddles  in  the  street,  the  gray  skies  —  London, 
in  short,  at  her  ugliest  and  worst." 

"  That  is  all  very  well,"  Peter  protested,  "  but  I  have 
left  several  other  things  behind,  too." 

"As,  for  instance.''  "  Sogrange  inquired,  genially. 

"  My  wife,"  Peter  informed  him.     "  Violet  objects  very 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     341 

much  to  these  abrupt  separations.  This  week,  too,  I  was 
shooting  at  Saxthorpe,  and  I  had  also  several  other  en- 
gagements of  a  pleasant  nature.  Besides,  I  have  reached 
that  age  when  I  find  it  disconcerting  to  be  called  out  of 
bed  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  answer  a  long  distance 
telephone  call,  and  told  to  embark  on  a  White  Star  liner 
leaving  Liverpool  early  the  next  morning.  It  may  be 
your  idea  of  a  pleasure  trip.     It  is  n't  mine." 

Sogrange  was  amused.  His  smile,  however,  was  hidden. 
Only  the  tip  of  hij  cigarette  was  visible. 

"  Anything  else.''  " 

"  Nothing  much,  except  that  I  am  always  seasick," 
Peter  replied  deliberately.  "  I  can  feel  it  coming  on  now. 
I  wish  that  fellow  would  keep  away  with  his  beastly  mutton 
broth.     The  whole  ship  seems  to  smell  of  it." 

Sogrange  laughed,  softly  but  without  disguise. 

"  Who  said  anything  about  a  pleasure  trip  ?  "  he  de- 
manded. 

Peter  turned  his  head. 

"  You  did.  You  told  me  when  you  came  on  at  Cher- 
bourg that  you  had  to  go  to  New  York  to  look  after 
some  property  there,  that  things  were  very  quiet  in 
London,  and  that  you  hated  traveling  alone.  Therefore, 
you  sent  for  me  at  a  few  hours'  notice." 

"Is  that  what  I  told  you?"  Sogrange  murmured. 

"  Yes!     Was  n't  it  true?  "  Peter  asked,  suddenly  alert. 

"  Not  a  word  of  it,"  Sogrange  admitted.  "  It  is  quite 
amazing  that  you  should  have  believed  it  for  a  moment." 

"  I  was  a  fool,"  Peter  confessed.  "  You  see,  I  was  tired 
and  a  little  cross.  Besides,  somehow  or  other,  I  never  asso- 
ciated a  trip  to  America  with  —  " 

Sogrange  interrupted  him  quietly,  but  ruthlessly. 

"  Lift  up  the  label  attached  to  the  chair  next  to  yours. 
Read  it  out  to  me." 


342     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Peter  took  it  into  his  hand  and  turned  it  over.  A  quick 
exclamation  escaped  him. 

"  Great  Heavens  !    The  Count  von  Hern  —  Bernadine !  " 

"  Just  so,"  Sogrange  assented.  "  Nice  clear  writing, 
isn't  it?" 

Peter  sat  bolt  upright  in  his  chair. 

"  Do  jou  mean  to  say  that  Bernadine  is  on  board?  " 

Sogrange  shook  his  head. 

"  By  the  exercise,  my  dear  Baron,"  he  said,  "  of  a  super- 
lative amount  of  ingenuity,  I  was  able  to  prevent  that 
misfortune.  Now  lean  over  and  read  the  label  on  the 
next  chair." 

Peter  obeyed.    His  manner  had  acquired  a  new  briskness. 

"  La  Duchesse  della  Nermino,"  he  announced. 

Sogrange  nodded. 

"  Everything  just  as  it  should  be,"  he  declared. 
"  Change  those  labels,  my  friend,  as  quickly  as  you  can." 

Peter's  fingers  were  nimble  and  the  thing  was  done 
in  a  few  seconds. 

"  So  I  am  to  sit  next  the  Spanish  lady,"  he  remarked, 
feeling  for  his  tie. 

"  Not  only  that,  but  you  are  to  make  friends  with  her,'' 
Sogrange  replied.  "  You  are  to  be  your  captivating  self, 
Baron.  The  Duchesse  is  to  forget  her  weakness  for  hot 
rooms.  She  is  to  develop  a  taste  for  sea  air  and  your 
society." 

"  Is  she,"  Peter  asked,  anxiously,  "  old  or  young?  " 

Sogrange  showed  a  disposition  to  fence  with  the  question. 

"  Not  old,"  he  answered ;  "  certainly  not  old.  Fifteen 
years  ago  she  was  considered  to  be  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful women  in  the  world." 

"  The  ladies  of  Spain,"  Peter  remarked,  with  a  sigh, 
"  are  inclined  to  mature  early." 

"  In  some  cases,"  Sogrange  assured  him,  "  there  are  no 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     343 

women  in  the  world  who  preserve  their  good  looks  longer. 
You  shall  judge,  my  friend.  Madame  comes !  How  about 
that  sea-sickness  now?" 

"  Gone,"  Peter  declared,  briskly.  "  Absolutely  a  fancy 
of  mine.     Never  felt  better  in  my  life." 

An  imposing  little  procession  approached  along  the 
deck.  There  was  the  deck  steward  leading  the  way ;  a  very 
smart  French  maid  carrying  a  wonderful  collection  of 
wraps,  cushions  and  books ;  a  black-browed,  pallid  man- 
servant, holding  a  hot  water  bottle  in  his  hand,  and  leading 
a  tiny  Pekinese  spaniel,  wrapped  in  a  sealskin  coat ;  and 
finally  Madame  la  Duchesse.  It  was  so  obviously  a  pro- 
cession intended  to  impress,  that  neither  Peter  nor 
Sogrange  thought  it  worth  while  to  conceal  their 
interest. 

The  Duchesse,  save  that  she  was  tall  and  wrapped  in 
magnificent  furs,  presented  a  somewhat  mysterious  appear- 
ance. Her  features  were  entirely  obscured  by  an  unusually 
thick  veil  of  black  lace,  and  the  voluminous  nature  of  her 
outer  garments  only  permitted  a  suspicion  as  to  her  figure, 
which  was,  at  that  time,  at  once  the  despair  and  the 
triumph  of  her  corsetiere.  With  both  hands  she  was  hold- 
ing her  fur-lined  skirts  from  contact  with  the  deck,  dis- 
closing at  the  same  time  remarkably  shapely  feet  encased 
in  trim  patent  shoes  with  plain  silver  buckles,  and  a  little 
more  black  silk  stocking  than  seemed  absolutely  necessary. 
,The  deck  steward,  after  a  half-puzzled  scrutiny  of  the 
labels,  let  down  the  chair  next  to  the  two  men.  The 
Duchesse  contemplated  her  prospective  neighbors  with 
some  curiosity,  mingled  with  a  certain  amount  of  hesita- 
tion. It  was  at  that  moment  that  Sogrange,  shaking  away 
his  rug,  rose  to  his  feet. 

"  Madame  la  Duchesse  permits  me  to  remind  her  of  my 
existence?  "  he  said,  bowing  low.     "  It  is  some  years  since 


344    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

we  met,  but  I  had  the  honor  of  a  dance  at  the  Palace  in 
Madrid." 

She  held  out  her  hand  at  once,  yet  somehow  Peter 
felt  sure  that  she  was  thankful  for  her  veil.  Her  voice 
was  pleasant,  and  her  air  the  air  of  a  great  lady.  She 
spoke  French  with  the  soft,  sibilant  intonation  of  the 
Spaniard. 

"  I  remember  the  occasion  perfectly.  Marquis,"  she  ad- 
mitted. "  Your  sister  and  I  once  shared  a  villa  in 
Mentone." 

"  I  am  flattered  by  your  recollection,  Duchesse,"  So- 
grange  murmured. 

"  It  is  a  great  surprise  to  meet  with  you  here,  though," 
she  continued.  "  I  did  not  see  you  at  Cherbourg  or  on 
the  train." 

"  I  motored  from  Paris,"  Sogrange  explained,  "  and 
arrived,  contrary  to  my  custom,  I  must  confess,  somewhat 
early.  Will  you  permit  that  I  introduce  an  acquaintance, 
whom  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  find  on  board  — 
Monsieur  le  Baron  de  Grost  —  Madame  la  Duchesse  della 
Nermino." 

Peter  was  graciously  received  and  the  conversation 
dealt,  for  a  few  moments,  with  the  usual  banalities  of  the 
voyage.  Then  followed  the  business  of  settling  the  Du- 
chesse in  her  place.  When  she  was  really  installed,  and 
surrounded  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  great  and  fan- 
ciful lady,  including  a  handful  of  long  cigarettes,  she 
raised  for  the  first  time  her  veil.  Peter,  who  was  at  the 
moment  engaged  in  conversation  with  her,  was  a  little 
shocked  by  the  result.  Her  features  were  worn,  her  face 
dead-white,  with  many  signs  of  the  ravages  wrought  by 
the  constant  use  of  cosmetics.  Only  her  eyes  had  retained 
something  of  their  former  splendor.  These  latter  were 
almost  violet  in  color,  deep-set,  with  dark  rims,  and  were 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     345 

sufficient  almost  in  themselves  to  make  one  forget  for  a 
moment  the  less  prepossessing  details  of  her  appearance.  A 
small  library  of  books  was  by  her  side,  but  after  a  while  she 
no  longer  pretended  any  interest  in  them.  She  was  a 
born  conversationalist,  a  creature  of  her  country  entirely 
and  absolutely  feminine,  to  whom  the  subtle  and  flattering 
deference  of  the  other  sex  was  the  breath  of  life  itself. 
Peter  burned  his  homage  upon  her  altar  with  a  craft  which 
amounted  to  genius.  In  less  than  half  an  hour,  Madame 
la  Duchesse  was  looking  many  years  younger.  The  vague 
look  of  apprehension  had  passed  from  her  face.  Their 
voices  had  sunk  to  a  confidential  undertone,  punctuated 
often  by  the  music  of  her  laughter.  Sogrange,  with 
a  murmured  word  of  apology,  had  slipped  away  long  ago. 
Decidedly,  for  an  Englishman,  Peter  was  something  of  a 
marvel ! 

Madame  la  Duchesse  moved  her  head  towards  the  empty 
chair. 

"He  is  a  great  friend  of  yours — the  Marquis  de  So- 
grange.'' "  she  asked,  with  a  certain  inflection  in  her  tone 
which  Peter  was  not  slow  to  notice. 

"  Indeed  no !  "  he  answered.  "  A  few  years  ago  I  was 
frequently  in  Paris.  I  made  his  acquaintance  then,  but  we 
have  met  very  seldom  since." 

"  You  are  not  traveling  together,  then.''  " 

"  By  no  means.  I  recognized  him  only  as  he  boarded  the 
steamer  at  Cherbourg." 

"  He  is  not  a  popular  man  in  our  world,"  she  remarked. 
"  One  speaks  of  him  as  a  schemer." 

"  Is  there  anything  left  to  scheme  for  in  France.''  "  Peter 
asked,  carelessly.     "  He  is,  perhaps,  a  monarchist?  " 

"  His  ancestry  alone  would  compel  a  devoted  allegiance 
to  royalism,"  the  Duchesse  declared,  "  but  I  do  not  think 
that  he  is  interested  in  any  of  these  futile  plots  to  rein- 


346    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

state  the  House  of  Orleans.  I,  Monsieur  le  Baron,  am 
Spanish." 

"  I  have  scarcely  lived  so  far  out  of  the  world  as  to 
have  heard  nothing  of  the  Duchesse  della  Nermino,"  Peter 
replied  with  empressement.  "  The  last  time  I  saw  you, 
Duchesse,  you  were  in  the  suite  of  the  Infanta." 

"  Like  all  Englishmen,  I  see  you  possess  a  memory," 
she  said,  smiling. 

"  Duchesse,"  Peter  answered,  lowering  his  voice,  "  with- 
out the  memories  which  one  is  fortunate  enough  to  collect 
as  one  passes  along,  life  would  be  a  dreary  place.  The 
most  beautiful  things  in  the  world  cannot  remain  always 
with  us.  It  is  well,  then,  that  the  shadow  of  them  can  be 
recalled  to  us  in  the  shape  of  dreams." 

Her  eyes  rewarded  him  for  his  gallantry.  Peter  felt  that 
he  was  doing  very  well  indeed.  He  indulged  himself  in  a 
brief  silence.  Presently  she  returned  to  the  subject  of 
Sogrange. 

"  I  think,"  she  remarked,  "  that  of  all  the  men  in  the 
world  I  expected  least  to  see  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange  on 
board  a  steamer  bound  for  New  York.  What  can  a 
man  of  his  type  find  to  amuse  him  in  the  New  World.''  " 

"  One  wonders,  indeed,"  Peter  assented.  "  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  I  did  read  in  a  newspaper  a  few  days  ago  that  he 
was  going  to  Mexico  in  connection  with  some  excavations 
there.  He  spoke  to  me  of  it  just  now.  They  seem  to 
have  discovered  a  ruined  temple  of  the  Incas,  or  something 
of  the  sort." 

The  Duchesse  breathed  what  sounded  very  much  like 
a  sigh  of  relief. 

"  I  had  forgotten,"  she  admitted,  "  that  New  York  itself 
need  not  necessarily  be  his  destination." 

"  For  my  own  part,"  Peter  continued,  "  it  is  quite 
amazing,   the   interest   which   the   evening  papers    always 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR      347 

take  in  the  movements  of  one  connected  ever  so  slightly 
with  their  world.  I  think  that  a  dozen  newspapers  have 
told  their  readers  the  exact  amount  of  money  I  am  going 
to  lend  or  borrow  in  New  York,  the  stocks  I  am  going 
to  bull  or  bear,  the  mines  I  am  going  to  purchase.  My 
presence  on  an  American  steamer  is  accounted  for  by  the 
journalists  a  dozen  times  over.  Yours,  Duchesse,  if  one 
might  say  so  without  appearing  over  curious,  seems  the 
most  inexplicable.  What  atti'action  can  America  possibly 
have  for  you?  " 

She  glanced  at  him  covertly  from  under  her  sleepy 
eyelids.     Peter's  face  was  like  the  face  of  a  child. 

"  You  do  not,  perhaps,  know,"  she  said,  "  that  I  was 
born  in  Cuba.  I  lived  there,  in  fact,  for  many  years.  I 
still  have  estates  in  the  country." 

"  Indeed?  "  he  answered.  "  Are  you  interested,  then, 
in  this  reported  salvage  of  the  Maine?  " 

There  was  a  short  silence.  Peter,  who  had  not  been 
looking  at  her  when  he  had  asked  his  question,  turned  his 
head,  surprised  at  her  lack  of  response.  His  heart  gave 
a  little  jump.  The  Duchesse  had  all  the  appearance  of  a 
woman  on  the  point  of  fainting.  One  hand  was  holding 
a  scent  bottle  to  her  nose ;  the  other,  thin  and  white,  ablaze 
with  emeralds  and  diamonds,  was  gripping  the  side  of 
her  chair.  Her  expression  was  one  of  blank  terror.  Peter 
felt  a  shiver  chill  his  own  blood  at  the  things  he  saw  in 
her  face.  He  himself  was  confused,  apologetic,  yet  abso- 
lutely without  understanding.  His  thoughts  reverted  at 
first  to  his  own  commonplace  malady. 

"  You  are  ill,  Duchesse !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  You  will 
allow  me  to  call  the  deck  steward?  Or  perhaps  you  would 
prefer  your  own  maid?  I  have  some  brandy  in  this 
flask." 

He  had  thrown  off  his  rug,  but  her  imperious  gesture 


348     PETER    RUFF    AND    THK    DOUBLE-FOUR 

kept  him  seated.  She  was  looking  at  him  with  an  intent- 
ness  which  was  almost  tragical. 

"  What  made  you  ask  me  that  question?  "  she  demanded. 

His  innocence  was  entirely  apparent.  Not  even  Peter 
could  have  dissembled  so  naturally. 

"  That  question?  "  he  repeated,  vaguely.  "  You  mean 
about  the  Maine?  It  was  the  idlest  chance,  Duchesse,  I 
assure  you.  I  saw  something  about  it  in  the  paper  yester- 
day and  it  seemed  interesting.  But  if  I  had  had  the  slight- 
est idea  that  the  subject  was  distasteful  to  you,  I  would  not 
have  dreamed  of  mentioning  it.  Even  now  —  I  do  not 
understand  —  " 

She  interrupted  him.  All  the  time  he  had  been  speaking 
she  had  shown  signs  of  recovery.  She  was  smiling  now, 
faintly  and  with  obvious  effort,  but  still  smiling. 

"  It  is  altogether  my  own  fault.  Baron,"  she  admitted, 
graciously.  "  Please  forgive  my  little  fit  of  emotion.  The 
subject  is  a  very  sore  one  among  my  countrypeople, 
and  your  sudden  mention  of  it  upset  me.  It  was  very 
foolish." 

"  Duchesse,  I  was  a  clumsy  idiot !  "  Peter  declared,  peni- 
tently. "  I  deserve  that  you  should  be  unkind  to  me  for 
the  rest  of  the  voyage." 

"  I  could  not  afford  that,"  she  answered,  forcing  another 
smile.  "  I  am  relying  too  much  upon  you  for  companion- 
ship. Ah!  could  I  trouble  you?"  she  added.  "For  the 
moment  I  need  my  maid.     She  passes  there." 

Peter  sprang  up  and  called  the  young  woman,  who  was 
slowly  pacing  the  deck.  He  himself  did  not  at  once  return 
to  his  place.  He  went  instead  in  search  of  Sogrange,  and 
found  him  in  his  stateroom.  Sogrange  was  lying  upon  a 
couch,  in  a  silk  smoking  suit,  with  a  French  novel  in  his 
hand  and  an  air  of  contentment  which  was  almost  fatuous. 
He  laid  down  the  volume  at  Peter's  entrance. 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     349 

"  Dear  Baron,"  he  murmured,  "  why  this  haste !  No 
one  is  ever  in  a  hurry  upon  a  steamer.  Remember  that  we 
can't  possibly  get  anywhere  in  less  than  eight  days,  and 
there  is  no  task  in  the  world,  nowadays,  which  cannot  be 
accomplished  in  that  time.  To  hurry  is  a  needless  waste 
of  tissue,  and,  to  a  person  of  my  nervous  temperament, 
exceedingly  unpleasant." 

Peter  sat  down  on  the  edge  of  the  bunk. 

"  I  presume  you  have. quite  finished.''  "  he  said.  "  If  so, 
listen  to  me.  I  am  moving  in  the  dark.  Is  it  my  fault  that 
I  blunder?  By  the  merest  accident  I  have  already  com- 
mitted a  hideous  faux  pas.  You  ought  to  have  warned 
me." 

"  What  do  you  mean.''  " 

"  I  have  spoken  to  the  Duchesse  of  the  Maine 
disaster." 

The  eyes  of  Sogrange  gleamed  for  a  moment,  but  he 
lay  perfectly  still, 

"  Why  not.''  "  he  asked.  "  A  good  many  people  are 
talking  about  it.  It  is  one  of  the  strangest  things  I  have 
ever  heard  of,  that  after  all  these  years  they  should  be 
trying  to  salve  the  wreck." 

"  It  seems  worse  than  strange,"  Peter  declared.  "  What 
can  be  the  use  of  trying  to  stir  up  bitter  feelings  between 
two  nations  who  have  fought  their  battles  and  buried  the 
hatchet?     I  call  it  an  act  of  insanity." 

A  bugle  rang.     Sogrange  yawned  and  sat  up. 

"  Would  you  mind  touching  the  bell  for  my  servant. 
Baron,"  he  asked.  "  Dinner  will  be  served  in  half  an  hour. 
Afterwards,  we  will  talk,  you  and  I." 

Peter  turned  away,  not  wholly  pleased. 

"  The  sooner,  the  better,"  he  grumbled,  "  or  I  shall  be 
putting  my  foot  into  it  again.  "... 

After  dinner,  the  two   men   walked   on   deck  together. 


350    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FCUR 

The  night  was  dark  but  fine,  with  a  strong  wind  blowing 
from  the  northwest.  The  deck  steward  called  their  reten- 
tion to  a  long  line  of  lights,  stealing  up  from  the  horizon 
on  their  starboard  side. 

"  That 's  the  Lusitania,  sir.  She  '11  be  up  to  us  in  half 
an  hour." 

They  leaned  over  the  rail.  Soon  the  blue  fires  began 
to  play  about  their  mast  head.  Sogrange  watched  them 
thoughtfully. 

"  If  one  could  only  read  those  messages,"  he  remarked, 
with  a  sigh,  "  it  might  help  us." 

Peter  knocked  the  ash  from  his  cigar  and  was  silent 
for  a  time.     He  was  beginning  to  understand  the  situation. 

"  My  friend,"  he  said  at  last,  "  I  have  been  doing  you 
an  injustice.  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  you  are 
not  keeping  me  in  ignorance  of  the  vital  facts  connected 
with  our  visit  to  America,  willfully.  At  the  present  mo- 
ment you  know  just  a  little  more,  but  a  very  little  more 
than  I  do." 

"  What  perception !  "  Sogrange  murmured.  "  My  dear 
Baron,  sometimes  you  amaze  me.  You  are  absolutely 
right.  I  have  some  pieces  and  I  am  convinced  that  they 
would  form  a  puzzle  the  solution  of  which  would  be  inter- 
esting to  us,  but  how  or  where  they  fit  in,  I  frankly  don't 
know.     You  have  the  facts  so  far." 

"  Certainly,"  Peter  replied. 

"  You  have  heard  of  Sirdeller?  " 

"You  mean  the  Sirdeller?"  Peter  asked. 

"  Naturally.  I  mean  the  man  whose  very  movements 
sway  the  money  markets  of  the  world,  the  man  who  could, 
if  he  chose,  ruin  any  nation,  make  war  impossible;  who 
could  if  he  had  ten  more  years  of  life  and  was  allowed 
to  live,  draw  to  himself  and  his  own  following  the  entire 
wealth  of  the  universe." 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     351 

"  Very  eloquent,"  Peter  remarked.  "  We  '11  take  the 
rest  for  granted." 

"  Then,"  Sogrange  continued,  "  you  have  probably  also 
heard  of  Don  Pedro,  Prince  of  Marsine,  one  time  Pre- 
tender to  the  Throne  of  Spain?  " 

"  Quite  a  striking  figure  in  European  politics,"  Peter 
assented,  quickly.  "  He  is  suspected  of  radical  proclivities, 
and  is  still,  it  is  rumored,  an  active  plotter  against  the 
existing  monarchy." 

"  Very  well,"  Sogrange  said.  "  Now  listen  carefully. 
Four  months  ago,  Sirdeller  was  living  at  the  Golden  Villa, 
near  Nice.  He  was  visited  more  than  once  by  Marsine, 
introduced  by  the  Count  von  Hern.  The  result  of  those 
visits  was  a  long  series  of  cablegrams  to  certain  great 
engineering  firms  in  America.  Almost  immediately,  the 
salvage  of  the  Maine  was  started.  It  is  a  matter  of  common 
report  that  the  entire  cost  of  these  works  is  being  under- 
taken by  Sirdeller." 

"  Now,"  Peter  murmured,  "  you  are  really  beginning 
to  interest  me." 

"  This  week,"  Sogrange  went  on,  "  it  is  expected  that 
the  result  of  the  salvage  works  will  be  made  known.  That 
is  to  say,  it  is  highly  possible  that  the  question  of  whether 
the  Maine  was  blown  up  from  outside  or  inside,  will  be 
settled  once  and  for  all.  This  week,  mind,  Baron.  Now 
see  what  happens.  Sirdeller  returns  to  America.  The 
Count  von  Hern  and  Prince  Marsine  come  to  America. 
The  Duchesse  della  Nermino  comes  to  America.  The 
Duchesse,  Sirdeller  and  Marsine  are  upon  this  steamer. 
The  Count  von  Hern  travels  by  the  Lusitania  only  because 
it  was  reported  that  Sirdeller  at  the  last  minute  changed 
his  mind  and  was  traveling  by  that  boat.  Mix  these 
things  up  in  your  brain  —  the  conjurer's  hat,  let  us  call 
it,"   Sogrange   concluded,   laying   his   hand   upon   Peter's 


352     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

arm,  "  Sirdeller,  the  Duchesse,  Von  Hern,  Marsine,  the 
raising  of  the  Maine  —  mix  them  up  and  what  sort  of  an 
omelette  appears?  " 

Peter  whistled  softly. 

"  No  wonder,"  he  said,  "  that  you  could  n't  make  the 
pieces  of  the  puzzle  fit.    Tell  me  more  about  the  Duchesse.''  " 

Sogrange  considered  for  a  moment. 

"  The  principal  thing  about  her  which  links  her  with 
the  present  situation,"  he  explained,  "  is  that  she  was  living 
in  Cuba  at  the  time  of  the  Maine  disaster,  married  to  a 
rich  Cuban." 

The  affair  was  suddenly  illuminated  by  the  searchlight 
of  romance.  Peter,  for  the  first  time,  saw  not  the  light, 
but  the  possibility  of  it. 

*'  Marsine  has  been  living  in  Germany,  has  he  not.'' "  he 
asked. 

"  He  is  a  personal  friend  of  the  Kaiser,"  Sogrange 
replied. 

They  both  looked  up  and  listened  to  the  crackling  of  the 
electricity  above  their  heads. 

"  I  expect  Bernadine  is  a  little  annoyed,"  Peter  remarked. 

"  It  is  n't  pleasant  to  be  out  of  the  party,"  Sogrange 
agreed.  "  Nearly  everybody,  however,  believed  at  the  last 
moment  that  Sirdeller  had  transferred  his  passage  to  the 
Lusitania." 

"  It 's  going  to  cost  him  an  awful  lot  in  marconigrams," 
Peter  said.  "  By  the  bye,  would  n't  it  have  been  better  for 
us  to  have  traveled  separately,  and  incognito  ?  " 

Sogrange  shrugged  his  shoulders  slightly. 

"  Von  Hern  has  at  least  one  man  on  board,"  he  replied. 
"  I  do  not  think  that  we  could  possibly  have  escaped  ob- 
servation. Besides,  I  rather  imagine  that  any  move  we 
are  able  to  make  in  this  matter  must  come  before  we  reach 
Fire  Island." 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     353 

"  Have  you  any  theory  at  all?  "  Peter  asked. 

"  Not  the  ghost  of  a  one,"  Sogrange  admitted.  "  One 
more  fact,  though,  I  forgot  to  mention.  You  may  find  it 
important.  The  Duchesse  comes  entirely  against  Von 
Hern's  wishes.  They  have  been  on  intimate  terms  for 
years,  but  for  some  reason  or  other  he  was  exceedingly 
anxious  that  she  should  not  take  this  voyage.  She,  on  the 
other  hand,  seemed  to  have  some  equally  strong  reason  for 
coming.  The  most  useful  piece  of  advice  I  could  give  you 
would  be  to  cultivate  her  acquaintance." 

"  The  Duchesse  —  " 

Peter  never  finished  his  sentence.  His  companion  drew 
him  suddenly  back  into  the  shadow  of  a  lifeboat. 

"Look!" 

A  door  had  opened  from  lower  down  the  deck,  and  a 
curious  little  procession  was  coming  towards  them.  A  man, 
burly  and  broad-shouldered,  who  had  the  air  of  a  pro- 
fessional bully,  walked  by  himself  ahead.  Two  others  of 
similar  build  walked  a  few  steps  behind.  And  between 
them  a  thin,  insignificant  figure,  wrapped  in  an  immense 
fur  coat  and  using  a  strong  walking  stick,  came  slowly 
along  the  deck.  It  was  like  a  procession  of  prison  warders 
guarding  a  murderer,  or  perhaps  a  nerve-racked  royal 
personage  moving  towards  the  end  of  his  days  in  the  midst 
of  enemies.  With  halting  steps  the  little  old  man  came 
shambling  along.  He  looked  neither  to  the  left  nor  to  the 
right.  His  eyes  were  fixed  and  yet  unseeing,  his  features 
were  pale  and  bony.  There  was  no  gleam  of  life,  not  even 
in  the  stone-cold  eyes.  Like  some  machine-made  man  of  a 
new  and  physically  degenerate  age,  he  took  his  exercise 
under  the  eye  of  his  doctor,  a  strange  and  miserable- 
looking  object. 

"  There  goes  Sirdeller,"  Sogrange  whispered.  "  Look 
at  him  —  the  man  whose  might  is  greater  than  any  em- 


354    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

peror's.  There  is  no  haven  in  the  universe  to  which  he 
does  not  hold  the  key.  Look  at  him  —  master  of  the 
world !  " 

Peter  shivered.  There  was  something  depressing  in  the 
sight  of  that  mournful  procession. 

"He  neither  smokes  nor  drinks,"  Sogrange  continued. 
"  Women,  as  a  sex,  do  not  exist  for  him.  His  religion  is  a 
doubting  Calvinism.  He  has  a  doctor  and  a  clergyman 
always  by  his  side  to  inject  life  and  hope  if  they  can. 
Look  at  him  well,  my  friend.  He  represents  a  great  moral 
lesson." 

"  Thanks !  "  Peter  replied.  "  I  am  going  to  take  the  taste 
of  him  out  of  my  mouth  with  a  whiskey  and  soda.  After- 
wards, I  'm  for  the  Duchesse." 

But  the  Duchesse,  apparently,  was  not  for  Peter.  He 
found  her  in  the  music-room  with  several  of  the  little 
Marconi  missives  spread  out  before  her,  and  she  cut  him 
dead.  Peter,  however,  was  a  brave  man,  and  skilled  at  the 
game  of  bluff.  So  he  stopped  by  her  side  and  without  any 
preamble  addressed  her. 

"  Duchesse,"  he  said,  "  you  are  a  woman  of  perceptions. 
Which  do  you  believe,  then,  in  your  heart  to  be  the  more 
trustworthy  —  the  Count  von  Hern  or  I.'*" 

She  simply  stared  at  him.    He  continued  promptly. 

"  You  have  received  your  warning,  I  see." 

"  From  whom?  " 

"  From  the  Count  von  Hern.  Why  believe  what  he 
says  ?  He  may  be  a  friend  of  yours  —  he  may  be  a  dear 
friend  —  but  in  your  heart  you  know  that  he  is  both 
unscrupulous  and  selfish.  Why  accept  his  word  and  dis- 
trust me?    I,  at  least,  am  honest." 

She  raised  her  eyebrows. 

"Honest?"  she  repeated.  "Whose  word  have  I  for 
that  save  ^-^our  own?     And  what  concern  is  it  of  mine  if 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     355 

you  possess  every  one  of  the  bourgeois  qualities  in  the 
world?     You  are  presuming,  sir." 

"  My  friend  Sogrange  will  tell  you  that  I  am  to  be 
trusted,"  Peter  persisted. 

"  I  see  no  reason  why  I  should  trouble  myself  about  your 
personal  characteristics,"  she  replied,  coldly.  "  They  do 
not  interest  me." 

"  On  the  contrary,  Duchesse,"  Peter  continued,  fencing 
wildly,  "  you  have  never  in  your  life  been  more  in  need  of 
any  one's  services  than  you  are  of  mine." 

The  conflict  was  uneven.  The  Duchesse  was  a  nervous, 
highly  strung  woman.  The  calm  assurance  of  Peter's 
manner  oppressed  her  with  a  sense  of  his  mastery. 
She  sank  back  upon  the  couch  from  which  she  had 
arisen. 

"  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  what  you  mean,"  she  said. 
"  You  have  no  right  to  talk  to  me  in  this  fashion.  What 
have  you  to  do  with  my  affairs?  " 

"  I  have  as  much  to  do  with  them  as  the  Count  von 
Hem,"  Peter  insisted,  boldly. 

"  I  have  known  the  Count  von  Hern,"  she  answered, 
"  for  very  many  years.  You  have  been  a  shipboard  ac- 
quaintance of  mine  for  a  few  hours." 

"  If  you  have  known  the  Count  von  Hern  for  many 
years,"  Peter  asserted,  "  you  have  found  out  by  this  time 
that  he  is  an  absolutely  untrustworthy  person." 

"  Supposing  he  is,"  she  said,  "  will  you  tell  me  what 
concern  it  is  of  yours?  Do  you  suppose  for  one  moment 
that  I  am  likely  to  discuss  my  private  affairs  with  a 
perfect  stranger?  " 

"  You  have  no  private  affairs,"  Peter  declared,  sternly. 
"  They  are  the  affairs  of  a  nation." 

She  glanced  at  him  with  a  little  shiver. 

From  that  moment  he  felt  that  he  was  gaining  ground. 


356    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

She  looked  around  the  room.  It  was  still  filled,  but  in 
their  corner  they  were  ahuost  unobserved. 

*'  How  much  do  you  know.f^  "  she  asked  in  a  low  tone 
which  shook  with  passion. 

Peter  smiled  enigmatically. 

"  Perhaps  more,  even,  than  you,  Duchesse,"  he  replied. 
"  I  should  like  to  be  your  friend.  You  need  one  —  you 
know  that." 

She  rose  abruptly  to  her  feet. 

"  For  to-night  it  is  enough,"  she  declared,  wrapping 
her  fur  cloak  around  her.  "  You  may  talk  to  me  to-morrow. 
Baron.  I  must  think.  If  you  desire  really  to  be  my  friend, 
there  is,  perhaps,  one  service  which  I  may  require  of  you. 
But  to-night,  no !  " 

Peter  stood  aside  and  allowed  her  to  step  past  him.  He 
was  perfectly  content  with  the  progress  he  had  made.  Her 
farewell  salute  was  by  no  means  ungracious.  As  soon  as 
she  was  out  of  sight,  he  returned  to  the  couch  where  she  had 
been  sitting.  She  had  taken  away  the  marconigrams,  but 
she  had  left  upon  the  floor  several  copies  of  the  New  York 
Herald.  He  took  them  up  and  read  them  carefully 
through.  The  last  one  he  found  particularly  interesting, 
so  much  so  that  he  folded  it  up,  placed  it  in  his  coat  pocket, 
and  went  off  to  look  for  Sogrange,  whom  he  found  at  last 
in  the  saloon,  watching  a  noisy  game  of  "  Up  Jenkins !  " 
Peter  sank  upon  the  cushioned  seat  by  his  side. 

"  You  were  right,"  he  remarked.  "  Bernadine  has  been 
busy." 

Sogrange  smiled. 

"  I  trust,"  he  said,  "  that  the  Duchesse  is  not  proving 
faithless?" 

"  So  far,"  Peter  replied,  "  I  have  kept  my  end  up.  To- 
morrow will  be  the  test.  Bernadine  had  filled  her  with 
caution.     She  thinks  that  I  know  everything  —  whatever 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     357 

everything  may  be.  Unless  I  can  discover  a  little  more 
than  I  do  now,  to-morrow  is  going  to  be  an  exceedingly 
awkward  day  for  me." 

"  There  is  every  prospect  of  your  acquiring  a  great  deal 
of  valuable  information  before  then,"  Sogrange  declared. 
"  Sit  tight,  my  friend.     Something  is.  going  to  happen." 

On  the  threshold  of  the  saloon,  ushered  in  by  one  of 
the  stewards,  a  tall,  powerful-looking  man,  with  a  square, 
well-trimmed  black  beard,  was  standing  looking  around 
as  though  in  search  of  some  one.  The  steward  pointed  out, 
with  an  unmistakable  movement  of  his  head,  Peter  and 
Sogrange.     The  man  approached  and  took  the  next  table. 

"  Steward,"  he  directed,  "  bring  me  a  glass  of  Vermouth 
and  some  dominoes." 

Peter's  eyes  were  suddenly  bright.  Sogrange  touched 
his  foot  under  the  table  and  whispered  a  word  of  warning. 
The  dominoes  were  brought.  The  newcomer  arranged  them 
as  though  for  a  game.  Then  he  calmly  withdrew  the 
double-four  and  laid  it  before  Sogrange. 

"  It  has  been  my  misfortune.  Marquis,"  he  said,  "  never 
to  have  made  your  acquaintance,  although  our  mutual 
friends  are  many,  and  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  have  the 
right  to  claim  a  certain  amount  of  consideration  from  you 
and  your  associates.     You  know  me?" 

"  Certainly,  Prince,"  Sogrange  replied.  "  I  am  channed. 
Permit  me  to  present  my  friend,  the  Baron  de  Grost." 

The  newcomer  bowed  and  glanced  a  little  nervously 
around. 

"  You  will  permit  me,"  he  begged.  "  I  travel  incognito. 
I  have  lived  so  long  in  England  that  I  have  permitted  my- 
self the  name  of  an  Englishman.  I  am  traveling  under  the 
name  of  Mr.  James  Fanshawe." 

"  Mr.  Fanshawe,  by  all  means,"  Sogrange  agreed.  "  In 
the  meantime  —  " 


358     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  I  claim  my  rights  as  a  corresponding  member  of  the 
Double-Four,"  the  newcomer  declared.  "  My  friend  the 
Count  von  Hern  finds  menace  to  certain  plans  of  ours  in 
your  presence  upon  this  steamer.  Unknown  to  him,  I 
come  to  you  openly.  I  claim  your  aid,  not  your 
enmity." 

"  Let  us  understand  one  another  clearly,"  Sogrange  said. 
"  You  claim  our  aid  in  what.^^  " 

Mr.  Fanshawe  glanced  around  the  saloon  and  lowered 
his  voice. 

"  I  claim  your  aid  towards  the  overthrowing  of  the 
usurping  House  of  Brangaza  and  the  restoration  to  power 
in  Spain  of  my  own  line." 

Sogrange  was  silent  for  several  moments.  Peter  was 
leaning  forward  in  his  place,  deeply  interested.  Decidedly, 
this  American  trip  seemed  destined  to  lead  towards 
events ! 

"  Our  active  aid  towards  such  an  end,"  Sogrange  said 
at  last,  "  is  impossible.  The  Society  of  the  Double-Four 
does  not  interfere  in  the  domestic  policy  of  other  nations 
for  the  sake  of  individual  members." 

"  Then  let  me  ask  you  why  I  find  you  upon  this 
steamer .?  "  Mr.  Fanshawe  demanded,  in  a  tone  of  sup- 
pressed excitement.  "  Is  it  for  the  sea  voyage  that  you  and 
your  friend  the  Baron  de  Grost  cross  the  Atlantic  this 
particular  week,  on  the  same  steamer  as  myself,  as  Mr. 
Sirdeller,  and  —  and  the  Duchesse?  One  does  not  believe 
in  such  coincidences !  One  is  driven  to  conclude  that  it  is 
your  intention  to  interfere." 

"  The  affair  almost  demands  our  interference,"  Sogrange 
replied,  smoothly.  "  With  every  due  respect  to  you,  Prince, 
there  are  great  interests  involved  in  this  move  of  yours." 

The  Prince  was  a  big  man,  but  for  all  his  large  features 
and  bearded  face  his  expression  was  the  expression  of  a 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     359 

peevish  and  passionate  child.  He  controlled  himself  with 
an  effort. 

"  Marquis,"  he  said,  "  this  is  necessary  —  I  say  that  it 
is  necessary  that  we  conclude  an  alliance." 

Sogrange  nodded  approvingly. 

"  It  is  well  spoken,"  he  said,  "  but  remember  —  the 
Baron  de  Grost  represents  England  and  the  English 
interests  of  our  Society." 

The  Prince  of  Marsine's  face  was  not  pleasant  to  look 
upon. 

"  Forgive  me  if  you  are  an  Englishman  by  birth.  Baron," 
he  said,  turning  towards  him,  "  but  a  more  interfering 
nation  in  other  people's  affairs  than  England  has  never 
existed  in  the  pages  of  history.  She  must  have  a  finger 
an  every  pie.     Bah !  " 

Peter  leaned  over  from  his  place. 

"  What  about  Germany  —  Mr.  Fanshawe  ?  "  he  asked, 
with  emphasis. 

The  Prince  tugged  at  his  beard.  He  was  a  little  non- 
plussed. 

"  The  Count  von  Hern,"  he  confessed,  "  has  been  a 
good  friend  to  me.  The  rulers  of  his  country  have  always 
been  hospitable  and  favorably  inclined  towards  my  family. 
The  whole  affair  is  of  his  design,  I  myself  could  scarcely 
have  moved  in  it  alone.  One  must  reward  one's  helpers. 
There  is  no  reason,  however,"  he  added,  with  a  meaning 
glance  at  Peter,  "  why  other  helpers  should  not  be 
admitted." 

"  The  reward  which  you  offer  to  the  Count  von  Hern," 
Peter  remarked,  "  is  of  itself  absolutely  inimical  to  the 
interests  of  my  country." 

"  Listen  !  "  the  Prince  demanded,  tapping  the  table  before 
him.  "  It  is  true  that  within  a  year  I  am  pledged  to  reward 
the  Count  von  Hern  in  certain  fashion.     It  is  not  possible 


36o     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

that  you  know  the  terms  of  our  compact,  but  from  your 
words  it  is  possible  that  you  have  guessed.  Very  well. 
Accept  this  from  me.  Remain  neutral  now,  allow  this  mat- 
ter to  proceed  to  its  natural  conclusion,  let  your  govern- 
ment address  representations  to  me  when  the  time  comes, 
adopting  a  bold  front,  and  I  promise  that  I  will  obey  them. 
It  will  not  be  my  fault  that  I  am  compelled  to  disappoint 
the  Count  von  Hern.  My  seaboard  would  be  at  the  mercy 
of  your  fleet.     Superior  force  must  be  obeyed." 

"  It  is  a  matter,  this,"  Sogrange  said,  "  for  discussion 
between  my  friend  and  me.  I  think  that  you  will  find  that 
we  are  neither  of  us  unreasonable.  In  short,  Prince,  I  see 
no  insuperable  reason  why  we  should  not  come  to  terms." 

"  You  encourage  me,"  the  Prince  declared,  in  a  gratified 
tone.  "  Do  not  believe.  Marquis,  that  I  am  actuated  in 
this  matter  wholly  by  motives  of  personal  ambition.  No, 
it  is  not  so.  A  great  desire  has  burned  always  in  my  heart, 
but  it  is  not  that  alone  which  moves  me.  I  assure  you  that 
of  my  certain  knowledge  Spain  is  honeycombed  —  is  rotten 
with  treason.  A  revolution  is  a  certainty.  How  much 
better  that  that  revolution  should  be  conducted  in  a  digni- 
fied manner;  that  I,  with  my  reputation  for  democracy 
which  I  have  carefully  kept  before  the  eyes  of  my  people, 
should  be  elected  President  of  the  new  Spanish  Republic, 
even  if  it  is  the  gold  of  the  American  which  places  me  there. 
In  a  year  or  two,  what  may  happen  who  can  say.''  This 
craving  for  a  republic  is  but  a  passing  dream.  Spain,  at 
heart,  is  monarchial.  She  will  be  led  back  to  the  light.  It 
is  but  a  short  step  from  the  president's  chair  to  the 
throne." 

Sogrange  and  his  companion  sat  quite  still.  They 
avoided  looking  at  each  other. 

"  There  is  one  thing  more,"  the  Prince  continued,  drop- 
ping his  voice,  as  if,  even  at  that  distance,  he  feared  the 


THE  GHOSTS  OF  HAVANA  HARBOR  361 

man  of  whom  he  spoke.  "  I  shall  not  inform  the  Count  von 
Hern  of  our  conversation.  It  is  not  necessary,  and,  between 
ourselves,  the  Count  is  jealous.  He  sends  me  message  after 
message  that  I  remain  in  my  stateroom,  that  I  seek  no  in- 
terview with  Sirdeller,  that  I  watch  only.  He  is  too  much 
of  the  spy  —  the  Count  von  Hern.  He  does  not  understand 
that  code  of  honor,  relying  upon  which  I  open  my  heart 
to  you." 

"  You  have  done  your  cause  no  harm,"  Sogrange  as- 
sured him,  with  subtle  sarcasm.  "  We  come  now  to  the 
Duchesse." 

The  Prince  leaned  towards  him.  It  was  just  at  this 
moment  that  a  steward  entered  with  a  marconigram,  which 
he  presented  to  the  Prince.  The  latter  tore  it  open, 
glanced  it  through,  and  gave  vent  to  a  little  exclamation. 
The  fingers  which  held  the  missive  trembled.  His  eyes 
blazed  with  excitement.  He  was  absolutely  unable  to  con- 
trol his  feelings. 

"  My  two  friends,"  he  cried,  in  a  tone  broken  with  emo- 
tion, "  it  is  you  first  who  shall  hear  the  news !  This  mes- 
sage has  just  arrived.  Sirdeller  will  have  received  its 
duplicate.  The  final  report  of  the  works  in  Havana  Har- 
bor will  await  us  on  our  arrival  in  New  York,  but  the 
substance  of  it  is  this.  The  Maine  was  sunk  by  a  torpedo, 
discharged  at  close  quarters  underneath  her  magazine. 
Gentlemen,  the  House  of  Brangaza  is  ruined !  " 

There  was  a  breathless  silence. 

"  Your  information  is  genuine.''  "  Sogrange  asked, 
softly. 

"  Without  a  doubt,"  the  Prince  replied.  "  I  have  been 
expecting  this  message.  I  shall  cable  to  Von  Hern.  We 
are  still  in  communication.     He  may  not  have  heard." 

"We  were  about  to  speak  of  the  Duchesse,"  Peter 
reminded  him. 


362     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

The  Prince  shook  his   head. 

"  Another  time,"  he  declared.     "  Another  time." 

He  hurried  away.  It  was  already  half  past  ten  and  the 
saloon  was  almost  empty.     The  steward  came  up  to  them. 

"  The  saloon  is  being  closed  for  the  night,  sir,"  he 
announced. 

"  Let  us  go  on  deck,"  Peter  suggested. 

They  found  their  way  up  on  to  the  windward  side  of 
the  promenade,  which  was  absolutely  deserted.  Far  away 
in  front  of  them  now  were  the  disappearing  lights  of  the 
Lusitania.  The  wind  roared  by  as  the  great  steamer  rose 
and  fell  on  the  black  stretch  of  waters.  Peter  stood  very 
near  to  his  companion. 

"  Listen,  Sogrange,"  he  said,  "  the  affair  is  clear  now 
save  for  one  thing." 

"  You  mean  Sirdeller's  motives  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all,"  Peter  answered.  "  An  hour  ago,  I  came 
across  the  explanation  of  these.  The  one  thing  I  will  tell 
you  afterwards.  Now  listen.  Sirdeller  came  abroad  last 
year  for  twelve  months'  travel.  He  took  a  great  house  in 
San  Sebastian." 

"  Where  did  you  hear  this  ?  "  Sogrange  asked. 

"  I  read  the  story  in  the  New  York  Herald,"  Peter  con- 
tinued. "  It  is  grossly  exaggerated,  of  course,  but  this  is 
the  substance  of  it.  Sirdeller  and  his  suite  were  stopped 
upon  the  Spanish  frontier  and  treated  in  an  abominable 
fashion  by  the  customs  officers.  He  was  forced  to  pay 
a  very  large  sum,  unjustly  I  should  think.  He  paid  under 
protest,  appealed  to  the  authorities,  with  no  result.  At 
San  Sebastian  he  was  robbed  right  and  left,  his  privacy 
intruded  upon.  In  short,  he  took  a  violent  dislike  and 
hatred  to  the  country  and  every  one  concerned  in  it.  He 
moved  with  his  entire  suite  to  Nice,  to  the  Golden  Villa. 
There  he  expressed  himself  freely  concerning  Spain  and 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     363 

her  Government.  Count  von  Hern  heard  of  it  and  pre- 
sented Marsine.  The  plot  was,  without  doubt,  Bernadine's. 
Can't  you  imagine  how  he  would  put  it  ?  'A  revolution,'  he 
would  tell  Sirdeller,  '  is  imminent  in  Spain.  Here  is  the 
new  President  of  the  Republic.  Money  is  no  more  to  you 
than  water.  You  are  a  patriotic  American.  Have  you 
forgotten  that  a  warship  of  your  country  with  six  hundred 
of  her  devoted  citizens  was  sent  to  the  bottom  by  the 
treachery  of  one  of  this  effete  race?  The  war  was  an  in- 
efficient revenge.  The  country  still  flourishes.  It  is  for 
you  to  avenge  America.  With  money  Marsine  can  establish 
a  republic  in  Spain  within  twenty-four  hours.'  Sirdeller 
hesitates.  He  would  point  out  that  it  had  never  been 
proved  that  the  destruction  of  the  Maine  was  really  due 
to  Spanish  treachery.  It  is  the  idea  of  a  business  man 
which  followed.  He,  at  his  own  expense,  would  raise  the 
Maine.  If  it  were  true  that  the  explosion  occurred  from 
outside,  he  would  find  the  money.  You  see,  the  message 
has  arrived.  After  all  these  years  the  sea  has  given  up 
its  secret.  Marsine  will  return  to  Spain  with  an  unlimited 
credit  behind  him.  The  House  of  Brangaza  will  crumble 
up  like  a  pack  of  cards." 

Sogrange  looked  out  into  the  darkness.  Perhaps  he  saw 
in  that  great  black  gulf  the  pictures  of  these  happenings 
which  his  companion  had  prophesied.  Perhaps,  for  a 
moment,  he  saw  the  panorama  of  a  city  in  flames,  the  pass- 
ing of  a  great  country  under  the  thrall  of  these  new  ideas. 
At  any  rate,  he  turned  abruptly  away  from  the  side  of  the 
vessel,  and  taking  Peter's  arm,  walked  slowly  down  the  deck. 

"  You  have  solved  the  puzzle.  Baron,"  he  said,  gravely. 
*'  Now  tell  me  the  one  thing.  Your  story  seems  to  dove- 
tail everywhere." 

"  The  one  thing,"  Peter  said,  "  is  connected  with  the 
Duchesse.    It  was  she,  of  her  own  will,  who  decided  to  come 


364    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

to  America.  I  believe  that,  but  for  her  coming,  Bernadine 
and  the  Prince  would  have  waited  in  their  own  country. 
Money  can  flash  from  America  to  England  over  the  wires. 
It  does  not  need  to  be  fetched.  They  have  still  one  fear. 
It  is  connected  with  the  Duchesse.     Let  me  think." 

They  walked  up  and  down  the  deck.  The  lights  were  ex- 
tinguished one  by  one,  except  in  the  smoking-room.  A 
strange  breed  of  sailors  from  the  lower  deck  came  up  with 
mops  and  buckets.  The  wind  changed  its  quarter  and  the 
great  ship  began  to  roll.     Peter  stopped  abruptly. 

"  I  find  this  motion  most  unpleasant,"  he  said.  "  I  am 
going  to  bed.  To-night  I  cannot  think.  To-morrow,  I 
promise  you,  we  will  solve  this.     Hush !  " 

He  held  out  his  hand  and  drew  his  companion  back  into 
the  shadow  of  a  lifeboat.  A  tall  figure  was  approaching  them 
along  the  deck.  As  he  passed  the  little  ray  of  light  thrown 
out  from  the  smoking-room,  the  man's  features  were  clearly 
visible.  It  was  the  Prince.  He  was  walking  like  one  ab- 
sorbed in  thought.  His  eyes  were  set  like  a  sleep-walker's. 
With  one  hand  he  gesticulated.  The  fingers  of  the  other 
were  twitching  all  the  time.  His  head  was  lifted  to  the 
skies.  There  was  something  in  his  face  which  redeemed  it 
from  its  disfiguring  petulance. 

"  It  is  the  man  who  dreams  of  power,"  Peter  whispered. 
"  It  is  one  of  his  best  moments,  this.  He  forgets  the  vulgar 
means  by  which  he  intends  to  rise.  He  thinks  only  of 
himself,  the  dictator,  king,  perhaps  emperor.  He  is  of 
the  breed  of  egoists." 

Again  and  again  the  Prince  passed,  manifestly  uncon- 
scious even  of  his  whereabouts.  Peter  and  Sogrange  crept 
away  unseen  to  their  staterooms. 

In  many  respects  the  room  resembled  a  miniature  court 
of  justice.     The  principal  sitting-room  of  the  royal  suite, 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     365 

which  was  the  chief  glory  of  the  Adriatic,  had  been  stripped 
of  every  superfluous  article  of  furniture  or  embellishment. 
Curtains  had  been  removed,  all  evidences  of  luxury  disposed 
of.  Temporarily  the  apartment  had  been  transformed  into 
a  bare,  cheerless  place.  Seated  on  a  high  chair,  with  his 
back  to  the  wall,  was  Sirdeller.  At  his  right  hand  was  a 
small  table,  on  which  stood  a  glass  of  milk,  a  phial,  a 
stethoscope.  Behind  his  doctor.  At  his  left  hand  a  smooth- 
faced, silent  young  man  —  his  secretary.  Before  him  stood 
the  Duchesse,  Peter  and  Sogrange.  Guarding  the  door 
was  one  of  the  watchmen,  who,  from  his  great  physique, 
might  well  have  been  a  policeman  out  of  livery.  Sirdeller 
himself,  in  the  clear  light  which  streamed  through  the  large 
window,  seemed  more  aged  and  shrunken  than  ever.  His 
eyes  were  deep  set.  No  tinge  of  color  was  visible  in  his 
cheeks.  His  chin  protruded,  his  shaggy  gray  eyebrows 
gave  him  an  unkempt  appearance.  He  wore  a  black  velvet 
gown,  a  strangely  cut  black  morning  coat  and  trousers,  felt 
slippers,  and  his  hands  were  clasped  upon  a  stout  ash  walk- 
ing-stick. He  eyed  the  newcomers  keenly  but  without 
expression. 

"  The  lady  may  sit,"  he  said. 

He  spoke  almost  in  an  undertone,  as  though  anxious  to 
avoid  the  fatigue  of  words.  The  guardian  of  the  door 
placed  a  chair,  into  which  the  Duchesse  subsided.  Sirdeller 
held  his  right  hand  towards  his  doctor,  who  felt  his  pulse. 
All  the  time  Sirdeller  watched  him,  his  lips  a  little  parted, 
a  world  of  hungry  excitement  in  his  eyes.  The  doctor 
closed  his  watch  with  a  snap  and  whispered  something  in 
Sirdeller's  ear,  apparently  reassuring. 

"  I  will  hear  this  story,"  Sirdeller  announced.  "  In  two 
minutes  every  one  must  leave.  If  it  takes  longer,  it  must 
remain  unfinished." 

Peter  spoke  up  briskly. 


366  PETER  RUFF  AND  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  The  story  is  this,"  he  began.  "  You  have  promised  to 
assist  the  Prince  of  Marsine  to  transform  Spain  into  a 
republic,  providing  the  salvage  operations  on  the  Maine 
prove  that  that  ship  was  destroyed  from  outside.  The  sal- 
vage operations  have  been  conducted  at  your  expense  and 
finished.  It  has  been  proved  that  the  Maine  was  destroyed 
by  a  mine  or  torpedo  from  the  outside.  Therefore,  on  the 
assumption  that  it  was  the  treacherous  deed  of  a  Spaniard 
or  Cuban  imagining  himself  to  be  a  patriot,  you  are  pre- 
pared to  carry  out  your  undertaking  and  supply  the 
Prince  of  Marsine  with  means  to  overthrow  the  Kingdom 
of  Spain." 

Peter  paused.  The  figure  on  the  chair  remained  mo- 
tionless. No  flicker  of  intelligence  or  interest  disturbed  the 
calm  of  his  features.     It  was  a  silence  almost  unnatural. 

"  I  have  brought  the  Duchesse  here,"  Peter  continued, 
"  to  tell  you  the  truth  as  to  the  Maine  disaster." 

Not  even  then  was  there  the  slightest  alteration  in  those 
ashen  gray  features.  The  Duchesse  looked  up.  She  had 
the  air  of  one  only  too  eager  to  speak  and  finish. 

"  In  those  days,"  she  said,  "  I  was  the  wife  of  a  rich 
Cuban  gentleman,  whose  name  I  withhold.  The  American 
officers  on  board  the  Maine  used  to  visit  at  our  house.  My 
husband  was  jealous;    perhaps  he  had  cause." 

The  Duchesse  paused.  Even  though  the  light  of  tragedy 
and  romance  side  by  side  seemed  suddenly  to  creep  into  the 
room,  Sirdeller  listened  as  one  come  back  from  a  dead 
world. 

"  One  night,"  the  Duchesse  went  on,  "my  husband's  sus- 
picions were  changed  into  knowledge.  He  came  home  un- 
expectedly. The  American  —  the  officer  —  I  loved  him  — ■ 
he  was  there  on  the  balcony  with  me.  My  husband  said 
nothing.  The  officer  returned  to  the  ship.  That  night  my 
husband  came  into  my  room.    He  bent  over  my  bed.     '  It  is 


THE    GHOSTS    OF    HAVANA    HARBOR     367 

not  you,'  he  whispered,  '  whom  I  shall  destroy,  for  the  pain 
of  death  is  short.  Anguish  of  mind  may  live.  To-night 
six  hundred  ghosts  may  hang  about  your  pillow ! '  " 

Her  voice  broke.  There  was  something  grim  and  un- 
natural in  that  curious  stillness.  Even  the  secretary  was 
at  last  breathing  a  little  faster.  The  watchman  at  the  door 
was  leaning  forward.  Sirdeller  simply  moved  his  hand  to 
the  doctor,  who  held  up  his  finger  while  he  felt  the  pulse. 
The  beat  of  his  watch  seemed  to  sound  through  the  un- 
natural silence.    In  a  minute  he  spoke. 

"  The  lady  may  proceed,"  he  announced. 

"  My  husband,"  the  Duchesse  continued,  "  was  an  officer 
in  charge  of  the  Mines  and  Ordnance  Department.  He  went 
out  that  night  in  a  small  boat,  after  a  visit  to  the  strong 
house.  No  soul  has  ever  seen  or  heard  of  him  since,  or  his 
boat.     It  is  only  I  who  know !  " 

Her  voice  died  away.  Sirdeller  stretched  out  his  hand 
and  very  deliberately  drank  a  tablespoonful  or  two  of  his 
milk. 

"  I  believe  the  lady's  story,"  he  declared.  "  The  Marsine 
affair  is  finished.  Let  no  one  be  admitted  to  have  speech 
with  me  again  upon  this  subject," 

He  had  half  turned  towards  his  secretary.  The  young 
man  bowed.  The  doctor  pointed  towards  the  door.  The 
Duchesse,  Peter  and  Sogrange  filed  slowly  out.  In  the 
bright  sunlight  the  Duchesse  burst  into  a  peal  of  hysterical 
laughter.  Even  Peter  felt,  for  a  moment,  unnerved.  Sud- 
denly he,  too,  laughed. 

"  I  think,"  he  said,  "  that  you  and  I  had  better  get  out 
of  the  way,  Sogrange,  when  the  Count  von  Hern  meets  us 
at  New  York !  " 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY 

SoGRANGE  and  Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  standing  upon  the 
threshold  of  their  hotel,  gazed  out  upon  New  York  and 
liked  the  look  of  it.  They  had  landed  from  the  steamer  a 
few  hours  before,  had  already  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  a  bath, 
a  visit  to  an  American  barber's,  and  a  genuine  cocktail. 

"  I  see  no  reason,"  Sogrange  declared,  "  why  we  should 
not  take  a  week's  holiday." 

Peter,  glancing  up  into  the  blue  sky  and  down  into  the 
faces  of  the  well-dressed  and  beautiful  women  who  were 
streaming  up  Fifth  Avenue,  was  wholly  of  the  same  mind. 

"  If  we  return  by  this  afternoon's  steamer,"  he  remarked, 
"  we  shall  have  Bernadine  for  a  fellow  passenger.  Berna- 
dine  is  annoyed  with  us  just  now.  I  must  confess  that  I 
should  feel  more  at  my  ease  with  a  few  thousand  miles  of  the 
Atlantic  between  us." 

"  Let  it  be  so,"  Sogrange  assented.  "  We  will  explore 
this  marvelous  city.  Never,"  he  added,  taking  his  com- 
panion's arm,  "  did  I  expect  to  see  such  women  save  in  my 
own,  the  mistress  of  all  cities.  So  chic,  my  dear  Baron, 
and  such  a  carriage !  We  will  lunch  at  one  of  the  fashion- 
able restaurants  and  drive  in  the  Park  afterwards.  First 
of  all,  however,  we  must  take  a  stroll  along  this  wonderful 
Fifth  Avenue." 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    369 

The  two  men  spent  a  morning  after  their  own  hearts. 
They  lunched  astonishingly  well  at  Sherry's  and  drove 
afterwards  in  Central  Park.  When  they  returned  to 
the  hotel,  Sogrange  was  in  excellent  spirits. 

"  I  feel,  my  friend,"  he  announced,  "  that  we  are  going 
to  have  a  very  pleasant  and,  in  some  respects,  a  unique 
week.  To  meet  friends  and  acquaintances,  everywhere,  as 
one  must  do  in  every  capital  in  Europe,  is,  of  course, 
pleasant,  but  there  is  a  monotony  about  it  from  which  one 
is  glad  sometimes  to  escape.  We  lunch  here  and  we  prom- 
enade in  the  places  frequented  by  those  of  a  similar  station 
to  our  own,  and  behold !  we  know  no  one.  We  are  lookers 
on.  Perhaps  for  a  long  time  it  might  gall.  For  a  brief 
period  there  is  a  restfulness  about  it  which  pleases  me." 

"  I  should  have  liked,"  Peter  murmured,  "  an  introduction 
to  the  lady  in  the  blue  hat." 

"  You  are  a  gregarious  animal,"  Sogrange  declared. 
"  You  do  not  understand  the  pleasures  of  a  little  compara- 
tive isolation  with  an  intellectual  companion  such  as  myself 
.   .   .  What  the  devil  is  the  meaning  of  this  !  " 

They  had  reached  their  sitting-room  and  upon  a  small 
round  table  stood  a  great  collection  of  cards  and  notes. 
Sogrange  took  them  up  helplessly,  one  after  the  other,  read- 
ing the  names  aloud  and  letting  them  fall  through  his 
fingers.  Some  were  known  to  him,  some  were  not.  He  be- 
gan to  open  the  notes.  In  effect  they  were  all  the  same  — 
what  evening  would  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange  and  his  dis- 
tinguished friend  care  to  dine,  lunch,  yacht,  golf,  shoot,  go 
to  the  opera,  join  a  theatre  party?  Of  what  clubs  would 
they  care  to  become  members.''  What  kind  of  hospitality 
would  be  most  acceptable? 

Sogrange  sank  into  a  chair. 

"  My  friend,"  he  exclaimed,  "  they  all  have  to  be  an- 
swered —  that  collection  there !     The  visits  have  to  be  re- 


370     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

turned.  It  is  magnificent,  this  hospitality,  but  what  can 
one  do?  " 

Peter  looked  at  the  pile  of  correspondence  upon  which 
Sogrange's  inroad,  indeed,  seemed  to  have  had  but  little 
effect. 

"  One  could  engage  a  secretary,  of  course,"  he  suggested, 
doubtfully.    "  But  the  visits  !    Our  week's  holiday  is  gone." 

"  Not  at  all,"  Sogrange  replied.     "  I  have  an  idea." 

The  telephone  bell  rang.  Peter  took  up  the  receiver 
and  listened  for  a  moment.  He  turned  to  Sogrange,  still 
holding  it  in  his  hand. 

"  You  will  be  pleased,  also,  to  hear,"  he  announced, 
"  that  there  are  half  a  dozen  reporters  downstairs  waiting 
to  interview  us." 

Sogrange  received  the  information  with  interest. 

"  Have  them  sent  up  at  once,"  he  directed,  "  every  one 
of  them." 

"  What,  all  at  the  same  time.''  "  Peter  asked. 

"  All  at  the  same  time  it  must  be,"  Sogrange  answered. 
"  Give  them  to  understand  that  it  is  an  affair  of  five 
minutes  only." 

They  came  trooping  in.  Sogrange  welcomed  them 
cordially. 

"  My  friend,  the  Baron  de  Grost,"  he  explained,  indi- 
cating Peter.  "  I  am  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange.  Let  us 
know  what  we  can  do  to  serve  you." 

One  of  the  men  stepped  forward. 

"  Very  glad  to  meet  you.  Marquis,  and  you,  Baron,"  he 
said.  "  I  won't  bother  you  with  any  introductions,  but  I 
and  the  company  here  represent  the  Press  of  New  York. 
We  should  like  some  information  for  our  papers  as  to  the 
object  of  your  visit  here  and  the  probable  length  of  your 
stay." 

Sogrange  extended  his  hands. 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    371 

"My  dear  friend,"  he  exclaimed,  "the  object  of  our 
visit  was,  I  thought,  already  well  known.  We  are  on  our 
way  to  Mexico.  We  leave  to-night.  My  friend  the  Baron 
is,  as  you  know,  a  financier.  I,  too,  have  a  little  money 
to  invest.  We  are  going  out  to  meet  some  business  ac- 
quaintances with  a  view  to  inspecting  some  mining  proper- 
ties. That  is  absolutely  all  I  can  tell  you.  You  can  un- 
derstand, of  course,  that  fuller  information  would  be 
impossible." 

"  Why,  that 's  quite  natural,  ]\Iarquis,"  the  spokesman 
of  the  reporters  replied.  "  We  don't  like  the  idea  of  your 
hustling  out  of  New  York  like  this,  though:" 

Sogrange  glanced  at  the  clock. 

"  It  is  unavoidable,"  he  declared.  "  We  are  relying 
upon  you,  gentlemen,  to  publish  the  fact,  because  you  will 
see,"  he  added,  pointing  to  the  table,  "  that  we  have  been 
the  recipients  of  a  great  many  civilities,  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  acknowledge  properly.  If  it  will  give 
you  any  pleasure  to  see  us  upon  our  return,  you  will  be  very 
welcome.    In  the  meantime,  you  will  understand  our  haste." 

There  were  a  few  more  civilities  and  the  representatives 
of  the  Press  took  their  departure.  Peter  looked  at  his 
companion  doubtfully,  as  Sogrange  returned  from  showing 
them  out. 

"  I  suppose  this  means  that  we  have  to  catch  to-day's 
steamer,  after  all?"  he  remarked. 

"  Not  necessarily,"  Sogrange  answered.  "  I  have  a 
plan.  We  will  leave  for  the  Southern  depot,  wherever  it 
may  be.  Afterwards,  you  shall  use  that  wonderful  skill 
of  yours,  of  which  I  have  heard  so  much,  to  effect  some 
slight  change  in  our  appearance.  We  will  then  go  to  an- 
other hotel,  in  another  quarter  of  New  York,  and  take 
our  week's  holiday  incognito.  What  do  you  think  of  that 
for  an  idea?  " 


372     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Not  much,"  Peter  replied.  "  It  is  n't  so  easy  to 
dodge  the  newspapers  and  the  Press  in  this  country. 
Besides,  although  I  could  manage  myself  very  well,  you 
would  be  an  exceedingly  awkward  subject.  Your  tall  and 
elegant  figure,  your  aquiline  nose,  the  shapeliness  of  your 
hands  and  feet,  give  you  a  distinction  which  I  should  find 
it  hard  to  conceal." 

Sogrange  smiled. 

"  You  are  a  remarkably  observant  fellow,  Baron.  I 
quite  appreciate  your  difficulty.  Still,  with  a  club  foot, 
eh,  and  spectacles  instead  of  my  eyeglass  —  " 

"  Oh,  no  doubt,  something  could  be  managed,"  Peter 
interrupted.  "  You  're  really  in  earnest  about  this,  are 
you  ?  " 

"  Absolutely,"  Sogrange  declared.    "  Come  here !  " 

He  drew  Peter  to  the  window.  They  were  on  the 
twelfth  story,  and  to  a  European  there  was  something 
magnificent  in  that  tangled  mass  of  buildings  threaded 
by  the  elevated  railway,  with  its  screaming  trains,  the 
clearness  of  the  atmosphere,  and  in  the  white  streets  below, 
like  polished  belts  through  which  the  swarms  of  people 
streamed  like  insects. 

"  Imagine  it  all  lit  up !  "  Sogrange  exclaimed.  "  The 
sky-signs  all  ablaze,  the  flashing  of  fire  from  those  cable 
wires,  the  lights  glittering  from  those  tall  buildings ! 
This  is  a  wonderful  place,  Baron.  We  must  see  it.  Ring 
for  the  bill.  Order  one  of  those  magnificent  omnibuses. 
Press  the  button,  too,  for  the  personage  whom  they  call 
the  valet.  Perhaps,  with  a  little  gentle  persuasion,  he  could 
be  induced  to  pack  our  clothes." 

With  his  finger  upon  the  bell,  Peter  hesitated.  He, 
too,  loved  adventures,  but  the  gloom  of  a  presentiment  had 
momentarily  depressed  him. 

"  We  are  marked  men,  remember,  Sogrange,"  he  said. 


THE   AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    373 

"  An  escapade  of  this  sort  means  a  certain  amount  of  risk, 
even  in  New  York." 

Sogrange  laughed. 

"  Bernadine  caught  the  midday  steamer !  We  have  no 
enemies  here  that  I  know  of." 

Peter  pressed  the  button.  An  hour  or  so  later,  the 
Marquis  de  Sogrange  and  Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  took 
their  leave  of  New  York. 

They  chose  a  hotel  on  Broadway,  within  a  stone's  throw  of 
Rector's.  Peter,  with  whitened  hair,  gold-rimmed  spectacles, 
a  slouch  hat  and  a  fur  coat,  passed  easily  enough  for  an 
English  maker  of  electrical  instruments ;  while  Sogrange, 
shabbier,  and  in  ready-made  American  clothes,  was  trans- 
formed into  a  Canadian  having  some  connection  with  the 
theatrical  business.  They  plunged  into  the  heart  of  New 
York  life,  and  found  the  whole  thing  like  a  tonic.  The  in- 
tense vitality  of  the  people,  the  pandemonium  of  Broadway 
at  midnight,  with  its  flaming  illuminations,  its  eager  crowd, 
its  inimitable  restlessness,  fascinated  them  both.  Sogrange, 
indeed,  remembering  the  decadent  languor  of  the  crowds  of 
pleasure  seekers  thronging  his  own  boulevards,  was  never 
weary  of  watching  these  men  and  women.  They  passed 
from  the  streets  to  the  restaurants,  from  the  restaurants 
to  the  theatre,  out  into  the  streets  again,  back  to  the  res- 
taurants, and  once  more  into  the  streets.  Sogrange  was 
like  a  glutton.  The  mention  of  bed  was  hateful  to  him. 
For  three  days  they  existed  without  a  moment's  boredom. 

On  the  fourth  evening,  Peter  found  Sogrange  deep  in 
conversation  with  the  head  porter.  In  a  few  minutes  he  led 
Peter  away  to  one  of  the  bars  where  they  usually  took 
their  cocktail. 

"  My  friend,"  he  announced,  "  to-night  I  have  a  treat 
for  you.     So  far  we  have  looked  on  at  the  external  night 


374     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

life  of  New  York.  Wonderful  and  thrilling  it  has  been,  too. 
But  there  is  the  underneath,  also.  Why  not?  There  is  a 
vast  polyglot  population  here,  full  of  energy  and  life.  A 
criminal  class  exists  as  a  matter  of  course.  To-night  we 
make  our  bow  to  it." 

"  And  by  what  means  ?  "  Peter  inquired. 

"  Our  friend  the  hall-porter,"  Sogrange  continued,  "  has 
given  me  the  card  of  an  ex-detective  who  will  be  our  escort. 
He  calls  for  us  to-night,  or  rather  to-morrow  morning,  at 
one  o'clock.  Then  behold !  the  wand  is  waved,  the  land  of 
adventures  opens  before  us." 

Peter  grunted. 

"  I  don't  want  to  damp  your  enthusiasm,  my  Canadian 
friend,"  he  said,  "  but  the  sort  of  adventures  you  may  meet 
with  to-night  are  scarcely  likely  to  fire  your  romantic 
nature.  I  know  a  little  about  what  they  call  this  under- 
neath world  in  New  York.  It  will  probably  resolve  itself 
into  a  visit  to  Chinatown,  where  we  shall  find  the  usual 
dummies  taking  opium  and  quite  prepared  to  talk  about 
it  for  the  usual  tip.  After  that  we  shall  visit  a  few  low 
dancing  halls,  be  shown  the  scene  of  several  murders,  and 
the  thing  is  done." 

"  You  are  a  cynic,"  Sogrange  declared.  "  You  would 
throw  cold  water  upon  any  enterprise.  Anyway,  our  de- 
tective is  coming.  We  must  make  use  of  him,  for  I  have 
engaged  to  pay  him  twenty-five  dollars." 

"  We  '11  go  where  you  like,"  Peter  assented,  "  so  long  as 
we  dine  on  a  roof  garden.  This  beastly  fur  coat  keeps  me 
in  a  state  of  chronic  perspiration." 

"  Never  mind,"  Sogrange  said,  consolingly,  "  it 's  most 
effective.     A  roof  garden,  by  all  means." 

"  And  recollect,"  Peter  insisted,  "  I  bar  Chinatown. 
We  're  both  of  us  seen  the  real  thing,  and  there  's  nothing 
real  about  what  they  show  you  here." 


THE   AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    375 

"  Chinatown  is  erased  from  our  program,"  Sogrange 
agreed.  "  We  go  now  to  dine.  Remind  me,  Baron,  that 
I  inquire  for  those  strange  dishes  of  which  one  hears  — 
Terrapin,  Canvas-backed  Duck,  Green  Corn,  Strawberry 
Shortcake.'* 

Peter  smiled  grimly. 

"  How  like  a  Frenchman,"  he  exclaimed,  "  to  take  no 
account  of  seasons !  Never  mind,  Marquis,  you  shall  give 
your  order  and  I  will  sketch  the  waiter's  face.  By  the  bye, 
if  you  're  in  earnest  about  this  expedition  to-night,  put 
your  revolver  into  your  pocket." 

"  But  we  're  going  with  an  ex-detective,"  Sogrange 
replied. 

"  One  never  knows,"  Peter  said,  carelessly. 

They  dined  close  to  the  stone  palisading  of  one  of  New 
York's  most  famous  roof  gardens.  Sogrange  ordered  an 
immense  dinner  but  spent  most  of  his  time  gazing  down- 
wards. They  were  higher  up  than  at  the  hotel  and  they 
could  see  across  the  tangled  maze  of  lights  even  to  the 
river,  across  which  the  great  ferry-boats  were  speeding  all 
the  while  —  huge  creatures  of  streaming  fire  and  whistling 
sirens.  The  air  where  they  sat  was  pure  and  crisp.  There 
was  no  fog,  no  smoke,  to  cloud  the  almost  crystalline 
clearness  of  the  night. 

"  Baron,"  Sogrange  declared,  "  if  I  had  lived  in  this 
city  I  should  have  been  a  different  man.  No  wonder  the 
people  are  all  conquering." 

"  Too  much  electricity  in  the  air  for  me,"  Peter  an- 
swered. "  I  like  a  little  repose.  I  can't  think  where  these 
people  find  it." 

"  One  hopes,"  Sogrange  murmured,  "  that  before  they 
progress  any  further  in  utilitarianism,  they  will  find  some 
artist,  one  of  themselves,  to  express  all  this." 

"  In    the   meantime,"   Peter   interrupted,    "  the   waiter 


376     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

would  like  to  know  what  we  are  going  to  drink.  I  've  eaten 
such  a  confounded  jumble  of  things  of  your  ordering 
that  I  should  like  some  champagne." 

"  Who  shall  say  that  I  am  not  generous !  "  Sogrange 
replied,  taking  up  the  wine  carte.  "  Champagne  it  shall 
be,    We  need  something  to  nerve  us  for  our  adventures." 

Peter  leaned  across  the  table. 

"  Sogrange,"  he  whispered,  "  for  the  last  twenty-four 
hours  I  have  had  some  doubts  as  to  the  success  of  our  little 
enterprise.  It  has  occurred  to  me  more  than  once  that  we 
are  being  shadowed." 

Sogrange  frowned. 

"  I  sometimes  wonder,"  he  remarked,  "  how  a  man  of 
your  suspicious  nature  ever  acquired  the  reputation  you 
undoubtedly  enjoy." 

"  Perhaps  it  is  because  of  my  suspicious  nature,"  Peter 
said.  "  There  is  a  man  staying  in  our  hotel  whom  we  are 
beginning  to  see  quite  a  great  deal  of.  He  was  talking 
to  the  head  porter  a  few  minutes  before  you  this  after- 
noon. He  supped  at  the  same  restaurant  last  night.  He 
is  dining  now  three  places  behind  you  to  the  right,  with  a 
young  lady  who  has  been  making  flagrant  attempts  at 
flirtation  with  me,  notwithstanding  my  gray  hairs." 

"  Your  reputation,  my  dear  Peter,"  Sogrange  mur- 
mured — 

"  As  a  decoy,"  Peter  interrupted,  "  the  young  lady's 
methods  are  too  vigorous.  She  pretends  to  be  terribly 
afraid  of  her  companion,  but  it  is  entirely  obvious  that 
she  is  acting  on  his  instructions.  Of  course,  this  may  be  a 
ruse  of  the  reporters.  On  the  other  hand,  I  think  it  would 
be  wise  to  abandon  our  little  expedition  to-night." 

Sogrange  shook  his  head. 

"  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,"  he  said,  "  I  am  committed 
to  it." 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    377 

"  In  which  case,"  Peter  replied,  "  I  am  certainly  com- 
mitted to  being  your  companion.  The  only  question  is 
whether  one  shall  fall  to  the  decoy  and  suffer  oneself  to  be 
led  in  the  direction  her  companion  desires,  or  whether  we 
shall  go  blundering  into  trouble  on  our  own  account  with 
your  friend  the  ex-detective."  •* 

Sogrange  glanced  over  his  shoulder,  leaned  back  in  his 
chair  for  a  moment,  as  though  to  look  at  the  stars,  and 
finally  lit  a  cigarette. 

"  There  is  a  lack  of  subtlety  about  that  young  person, 
Baron,"  he  declared,  "  which  stifles  one's  suspicions.  I 
suspect  her  to  be  merely  one  more  victim  to  your  un- 
doubted charms.  In  the  interests  of  Madame  your  wife, 
I  shall  take  you  away.  The  decoy  shall  weave  her  spells  in 
vain." 

They  paid  their  bill  and  departed  a  few  minutes  later. 
The  man  and  the  girl  were  also  in  the  act  of  leaving.  The 
former  seemed  to  be  having  some  dispute  about  the  bill. 
The  girl,  standing  with  her  back  to  him,  scribbled  a  line 
upon  a  piece  of  paper,  and,  as  Peter  went  by,  pushed  it 
into  his  hand  with  a  little  warning  gesture.  In  the  lift  he 
opened  it.  The  few  penciled  words  contained  nothing  but 
an  address:   Number  15,  100th  Street,  East. 

"  Lucky  man !  "  Sogrange  sighed. 

Peter  made  no  remark,  but  he  was  thoughtful  for  the 
next  hour  or  so. 

The  ex-detective  proved  to  be  an  individual  of  fairly 
obvious  appearance,  whose  complexion  and  thirst  indi- 
cated a  very  possible  reason  for  his  life  of  leisure.  He 
heard  with  surprise  that  his  patrons  were  not  inclined  to 
visit  Chinatown,  but  he  showed  a  laudable  desire  to  fall  in 
with  their  schemes,  provided  always  that  they  included  a 
reasonable  number  of  visits  to  places  where  refreshment 


378     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

could  be  obtained.  From  first  to  last,  the  expedition  was 
a  disappointment.  They  visited  various  smoke-hung  danc- 
ing halls,  decorated  for  the  most  part  with  oleographs  and 
cracked  mirrors,  in  which  sickly-looking  young  men  of 
unwholesome  aspect  were  dancing  with  their  feminine 
counterparts.  The  attitude  of  their  guide  was  alone 
amusing. 

"  Say,  you  want  to  be  careful  in  here !  "  he  would  de- 
clare, in  an  awed  tone,  on  entering  one  of  these  tawdry 
palaces.  "  Guess  this  is  one  of  the  toughest  spots  in  New 
York  City.  You  stick  close  to  me  and  I  '11  make  things 
all  right." 

His  method  of  making  things  all  right  was  the  same  in 
every  case.  He  would  form  a  circle  of  disreputable- 
looking  youths,  for  whose  drinks  Sogrange  was  called  upon 
to  pay.  The  attitude  of  these  young  men  was  more 
dejected  than  positively  vicious.  They  showed  not  the 
slightest  signs  of  any  desire  to  make  themselves  unpleasant. 
Only  once,  when  Sogrange  incautiously  displayed  a  gold 
watch,  did  the  eyes  of  one  or  two  of  their  number  glisten. 
The  ex-detective  changed  his  place  and  whispered  hoarsely 
in  his  patron's  ear. 

"  Say,  don't  you  flash  anything  of  that  sort  about  here ! 
That  young  cove  right  opposite  to  you  is  one  of  the  best 
known  sneak-thieves  in  the  city.  You  're  asking  for 
trouble  that  way." 

"  If  he  or  any  other  of  them  want  my  watch,"  Sogrange 
answered  calmly,  "  let  them  come  and  fetch  it.  However," 
he  added,  buttoning  up  his  coat,  "  no  doubt  you  are  right. 
Is  there  anywhere  else  to  take  us.''  " 

The  man  hesitated. 

"  There  ain't  much  that  you  have  n't  seen,"  he  re- 
marked. 

Sogrange  laughed  softly  as  he  rose  to  his  feet. 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    379 

"  A  sell,  my  dear  friend,"  he  said  to  Peter.  "  This 
terrible  city  keeps  its  real  criminal  class  somewhere  else 
rather  than  in  the  show  places." 

A  man  who  had  been  standing  in  the  doorway,  looking 
in  for  several  moments,  strolled  up  to  them.  Peter  recog- 
nized him  at  once  and  touched  Sogrange  on  the  arm.  The 
newcomer  accosted  them  pleasantly. 

"  Say,  you  '11  excuse  my  butting  in,"  he  began,  "  but  I 
can  see  you  're  kind  of  disappointed.  These  suckers  "  — 
indicating  the  ex-detective  — "  talk  a  lot  about  what 
they  're  going  to  show  you,  and  when  they  get  you  round 
it  all  amounts  to  nothing.  This  is  the  sort  of  thing  they 
bring  you  to,  as  representing  the  wickedness  of  New  York ! 
That 's  so,  Rastall,  is  n't  it.?  " 

The  ex-detective  looked  a  little  sheepish. 

"  Yes,  there  ain't  much  more  to  be  seen,"  he  admitted. 
"  Perhaps  you  '11  take  the  job  on  if  you  think  there  is." 

"  Well,  I  'd  show  the  gentlemen  something  of  a  sight  more 
interesting  that  this,"  the  newcomer  continued.  "  They 
don't  want  to  sit  down  and  drink  with  the  scum  of  the 
earth." 

"  Perhaps,"  Sogrange  suggested,  "  this  gentleman  has 
something  in  his  mind  which  he  thinks  would  appeal  to 
us.  We  have  a  motor  car  outside  and  we  are  out  for 
adventures." 

"  What  sort  of  adventures  ?  "  the  newcomer  asked, 
bluntly. 

Sogrange  shrugged  his  shoulders  lightly. 

"  We  are  lookers-on  merely,"  he  explained.  "  My  friend 
and  I  have  traveled  a  good  deal.  We  have  seen  something 
of  criminal  life  in  Paris  and  London,  Vienna  and  Buda- 
pest. I  shall  not  break  any  confidence  if  I  tell  you  that 
my  friend  is  a  writer,  and  material  such  as  this  is  useful." 

The  newcomer  smiled. 


38o    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Well,"  he  exclaimed,  "  in  a  way,  it 's  fortunate  for 
you  that  I  happened  along !  You  come  right  with  me  and 
I  '11  show  you  something  that  very  few  other  people  in 
this  city  know  of.  Guess  you  'd  better  pay  this  fellow  off," 
he  added,  indicating  the  ex-detective.  "  He  's  no  more  use 
to  you." 

Sogrange  and  Peter  exchanged  questioning  glances. 

"  It  is  very  kind  of  you,  sir,"  Peter  decided,  "  but  for 
my  part  I  have  had  enough  for  one  evening." 

"  Just  as  you  like,  of  course,"  the  other  remarked,  with 
studied  unconcern. 

"  What  sort  of  place  would  it  be.'*  "  Sogrange  asked. 

The  newcomer  drew  them  on  one  side,  although,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  every  one  else  had  already  melted  away. 

"  Have  you  ever  heard  of  the  Secret  Societies  of  New 
York.''"  he  inquired.  "Well,  I  guess  you  haven't,  any 
way  —  not  to  know  anything  about  them.  Well,  then, 
listen.  There  's  a  Society  meets  within  a  few  steps  of  here, 
which  has  more  to  do  with  regulating  the  criminal  classes 
of  the  city  than  any  police  establishment.  There  '11  be  a 
man  there  within  an  hour  or  so,  who,  to  my  knowledge, 
has  committed  seven  murders.  The  police  can't  get  him. 
They  never  will.     He 's  under  our  protection." 

"  May  we  visit  such  a  place  as  you  describe  without 
danger.'"'  Peter  asked,  calmly. 

"  No ! "  the  man  answered.  "  There  's  danger  in  going 
anywhere,  it  seems  to  me,  if  it 's  worth  while.  So  long  as 
you  keep  a  still  tongue  in  your  head  and  don't  look  about 
you  too  much,  there  's  nothing  will  happen  to  you.  If  you 
get  gassing  a  lot,  you  might  tumble  in  for  almost  anything. 
Don't  come  unless  you  like.  It 's  a  chance  for  your  friend, 
as  he  's  a  writer,  but  you  'd  best  keep  out  of  it  if  you  're 
in  any  way  nervous." 

"  You  said  it  was  quite  close.''  "  Sogrange  inquired. 


^^  Mind  the  broken  pa--vement, 
the  man  called  out. 

Page  3S1. 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    381 

"  Within  a  yard  or  two,"  the  man  replied.  "  It 's  right 
this  way." 

They  left  the  hall  with  their  new  escort.  When  they 
looked  for  their  motor  car,  they  found  it  had  gone. 

"  It  don't  do  to  keep  them  things  waiting  about  round 
here,"  their  new  friend  remarked,  carelessly.  "  I  guess 
1  '11  send  you  back  to  your  hotel  all  right.     Step  this  way." 

"  By  the  bye,  what  street  is  this  we  are  in  ? "  Peter 
asked. 

"  100th  Street,"  the  man  answered. 

Peter  shook  his  head. 

"  I  'm  a  little  superstitious  about  that  number,"  he  de- 
clared. "  Is  that  an  elevated  railway  there  ?  I  think  we  've 
had  enough,  Sogrange." 

Sogrange  hesitated.  They  were  standing  now  in  front 
of  a  tall,  gloomy  house,  unkempt,  with  broken  gate  —  a 
large  but  miserable-looking  abode.  The  passers-by  in 
the  street  were  few.  The  whole  character  of  the  surround- 
ings was  squalid.     The  man  pushed  open  the  broken  gate. 

"  You  cross  the  street  right  there  to  the  elevated,"  he 
directed.     "  If  you  ain't  coming,  I  '11  bid  you  good-night." 

Once  more  they  hesitated.  Peter,  perhaps,  saw  more 
than  his  companion.  He  saw  the  dark  shapes  lurking 
under  the  railway  arch.  He  knew  instinctively  that  they 
were  in  some  sort  of  danger.  And  yet  the  love  of  adven- 
ture was  on  fire  in  his  blood.  His  belief  in  himself  was 
immense.      He  whispered   to   Sogrange. 

"  I  do  not  trust  our  guide,"  he  said.  "  If  you  care  to 
risk  it,  I  am  with  you." 

"  Mind  the  broken  pavement,"  the  man  called  out. 
"  This  ain't  exactly  an  abode  of  luxury." 

They  climbed  some  broken  steps.  Their  guide  opened 
a  door  with  a  Yale  key.  The  door  swung  to,  after  them, 
and  they  found  themselves  in  darkness.     There  had  been 


382     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

no  light  in  the  windows ;  there  was  no  light,  apparently, 
in  the  house.  Their  companion  produced  an  electric  torch 
from  his  pocket. 

"  You  had  best  follow  me,"  he  advised.  "  Our  quarters 
face  out  the  other  way.  We  keep  this  end  looking  a  little 
deserted." 

They  passed  through  a  swing  door  and  everything  was 
at  once  changed.  A  multitude  of  lamps  hung  from  the 
ceiling,  the  floor  was  carpeted,  the  walls  clean. 

"We  don't  go  in  for  electric  light,"  their  guide  ex- 
plained, "  as  we  try  not  to  give  the  place  away.  We 
manage  to  keep  it  fairly  comfortable,  though." 

He  pushed  open  the  door  and  entered  a  somewhat 
gorgeously  furnished  salon.  There  were  signs  here  of 
feminine  occupation,  an  open  piano,  and  the  smell  of 
cigarettes.     Once  more  Peter  hesitated. 

"  Your  friends  seem  to  be  in  hiding,"  he  remarked. 
"  Personally,  I  am  losing  my  curiosity." 

"  Guess  you  won't  have  to  wait  very  long,"  the  man 
replied,  with  meaning. 

The  room  was  suddenly  invaded  on  all  sides.  Four 
doors,  which  were  quite  hidden  by  the  pattern  of  the 
wall,  had  opened  almost  simultaneously,  and  at  least  a 
dozen  men  had  entered.  This  time  both  Sogrange  and 
Peter  knew  that  they  were  face  to  face  with  the  real  thing. 
These  were  men  who  came  silently  in,  no  cigarette-stunted 
youths.  Two  of  them  were  in  evening  dress ;  three  or 
four  had  the  appearance  of  prize  fighters.  In  their  coun- 
tenances was  one  expression  common  to  all  —  an  air  of 
quiet   and  conscious   strength. 

A  fair-headed  man,  in  dinner  jacket  and  black  tie,  be- 
came at  once  their  spokesman.  He  was  possessed  of  a 
very  slight  American  accent,  and  he  beamed  at  them 
through  a  pair  of  gold-rimmed  spectacles. 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    383 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  am  glad  to  meet  you  both." 

"  Very  kind  of  you,  I  'm  sure,"  Sogrange  answered. 
"  Our  friend  here,"  he  added,  indicating  their  guide, 
"  found  us  trying  to  gain  a  little  insight  into  the  more  in- 
teresting part  of  New  York  life.  He  was  kind  enough  to 
express  a  wish  to  introduce  us  to  you." 

The  man  smiled.  He  looked  very  much  like  some 
studious  clerk,  except  that  his  voice  seemed  to  ring  with 
some  latent  power. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  he  said,  "  that  your  friend's  interest 
in  you  was  not  entirely  unselfish.  For  three  days  he  has 
carried  in  his  pocket  an  order  instructing  him  to  produce 
you  here." 

"  I  knew  it !  "  Peter  whispered,  under  his  breath. 

"  You  interest  me,"  Sogrange  replied.  "  May  I  know 
whom  I  have  the  honor  of  addressing?  " 

"  You  can  call  me  Burr,"  the  man  announced,  "  Philip 
Burr.     Your  names  it  is  not  our  wish  to  know." 

"  I  am  afraid  I  do  not  quite  understand,"  Sogrange  said. 

"  It  was  scarcely  to  be  expected  that  you  should,"  Mr, 
Philip  Burr  admitted.  "  All  I  can  tell  you  is  that,  in 
cases  like  yours,  I  really  prefer  not  to  know  with  whom 
I  have  to  deal." 

"  You  speak  as  though  you  had  business  with  us," 
Peter  remarked. 

"  Without  doubt,  I  have,"  the  other  replied,  grimly. 
"  It  is  my  business  to  see  that  you  do  not  leave  these 
premises  alive." 

Sogrange  drew  up  a  chair  against  which  he  had  been 
leaning,  and  sat  down. 

"  Really,"  he  said,  "  that  would  be  most  inconvenient." 

Peter,  too,  shook  his  head,  sitting  upon  the  end  of  a 
sofa  and  folding  his  arms.  Something  told  him  that  the 
moment  for  fighting  was  not  yet. 


384     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Inconvenient  or  not,"  Mr.  Philip  Burr  continued,  "  I 
have  orders  to  carry  out  which  I  can  assure  you  have 
never  yet  been  disobeyed  since  the  formation  of  our  So- 
ciety. From  what  I  can  see  of  you,  you  appear  to  be 
very  amiable  gentlemen,  and  if  it  would  interest  you  to 
choose  the  method  —  say,  of  your  release  —  why,  I  can 
assure  you  we  '11  do  all  we  can  to  meet  your  views." 

"  I  am  beginning,"  Sogrange  remarked,  "  to  feel  quite 
at  home." 

"  You  see,  we  've  been  through  this  sort  of  thing 
before,"  Peter  added,  blandly. 

Mr.  Philip  Burr  took  a  cigar  from  his  case  and  lit  it. 
At  a  motion  of  his  hand,  one  of  the  company  passed  the 
box  to  his  two  guests. 

"  You  're  not  counting  upon  a  visit  from  the  police,  or 
anything  of  that  sort,  I  hope.'^  "  Mr.  Philip  Burr  asked. 

Sogrange  shook  his  head. 

"  Certainly  not,"  he  replied.  "  I  may  say  that  much  of 
the  earlier  portion  of  my  life  was  spent  in  frustrating  the 
well-meant  but  impossible  schemes  of  that  body  of 
men." 

"  If  only  we  had  a  little  more  time,"  Mr.  Burr  declared, 
"  it  seems  to  me  I  should  like  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
you  two  gentlemen." 

"  The  matter  is  entirely  in  your  own  hands,"  Peter 
reminded  him.     "  We  are  in  no  hurry." 

Mr.  Burr  smiled  genially. 

"  You  make  me  think  better  of  humanity,"  he  confessed. 
"  A  month  ago  we  had  a  man  here  —  got  him  along  some- 
how or  another  —  and  I  had  to  tell  him  that  he  was  up 
against  it  like  you  two  are.  My !  the  fuss  he  made ! 
Kind  of  saddened  me  to  think  a  man  should  be  such  a 
coward." 

"  Some  people  like  that,"   Sogrange   remarked.      "  By 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    385 

the  bye,  Mr.  Burr,  you  '11  pardon  my  curiosity.  Whom 
have  we  to  thank  for  our  introduction  here  to-night?  " 

"  I  don't  know  as  there  's  any  particular  harm  in  telling 
you,"  Mr.  Burr  replied  — 

"  Nor  any  particular  good,"  a  man  who  was  standing 
by  his  side  interrupted.  "  Say,  Phil,  you  drag  these 
things  out  too  much.  Are  there  any  questions  you  've  got 
to  ask  'em,  or  any  property  to  collect.''  " 

"  Nothing  of  the  sort,"  Mr.  Burr  admitted. 

"  Then  let  the  gang  get  to  work,"  the  other  declared. 

The  two  men  were  suddenly  conscious  that  they  were 
being  surrounded.  Peter's  hand  stole  on  to  the  butt  of 
his  revolver.  Sogrange  rose  slowly  to  his  feet.  His 
hands  were  thrust  out  in  front  of  him  with  the  thumbs 
turned  down.  The  four  fingers  of  each  hand  flashed  for 
a  minute  through  the  air.  Mr.  Philip  Burr  lost  all  his 
self-control. 

"Say,  where  the  devil  did  you  learn  that  trick.'"'  he 
cried. 

Sogrange  laughed  scornfully. 

*'  Trick !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Philip  Burr,  you  are  un- 
worthy of  your  position.  I  am  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange, 
and  my  friend  here  is  the  Baron  de  Grost." 

Mr.  Philip  Burr  had  no  words.  His  cigar  had  dropped 
on  to  the  carpet.     He  was  simply  staring. 

"  If  you  need  proof,"  Sogrange  continued,  "  further 
than  any  I  have  given  you,  I  have  in  my  pocket,  at  the 
present  moment,  a  letter,  signed  by  you  yourself,  pleading 
for  formal  reinstatement.  This  is  how  you  would  qualify 
for  it!  You  make  use  of  your  power  to  run  a  common 
decoy  house,  to  do  away  with  men  for  money.  What  fool 
gave  you  our  names,  pray?  " 

Mr.  Philip  Burr  was  only  the  wreck  of  a  man.  He 
could   not   even   control   his   voice. 


386     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  It  was  some  German  or  Belgian  nobleman,"  he  fal- 
tered. "  He  brought  us  excellent  letters,  and  he  made  a 
large  contribution.     It  was  the  Count  von  Hern." 

The  anger  of  Sogrange  seemed  suddenly  to  fade  away. 
He  threw  himself  into  a  chair  by  the  side  of  his  companion. 

"  My  dear  Baron,"  he  exclaimed,  "  Bernadine  has  scored, 
indeed !  Your  friend  has  a  sense  of  humor  which  over- 
whelms me.  Imagine  it.  He  has  delivered  the  two  heads 
of  our  great  Society  into  the  hands  of  one  of  its  cast- 
off  branches !     Bernadine  is  a  genius,  indeed ! " 

Mr.  Philip  Burr  began  slowly  to  recover  himself.  He 
waved  his  hand.     Nine  out  of  the  twelve  men  left  the  room. 

"  Marquis,"  he  said,  "  for  ten  years  there  has  been  no 
one  whom  I  have  desired  to  meet  so  much  as  you.  I  came 
to  Europe  but  you  declined  to  receive  me.  I  know  very 
well  we  can't  keep  our  end  up  like  you  over  there,  because 
we  have  n't  politics  and  that  sort  of  things  to  play  with, 
but  we  've  done  our  best.  We  've  encouraged  only  crimi- 
nology of  the  highest  order.  We  've  tried  all  we  can  to 
keep  the  profession  select.  The  jail-bird,  pure  and  simple, 
we  have  cast  out.  The  men  who  have  suffered  at  our  hands 
have  been  men  who  have  met  with  their  deserts." 

"  What  about  us  ?  "  Peter  demanded.  "  It  seems  to  me 
that  you  had  most  unpleasant  plans  for  our  future." 

Philip  Burr  held  up  his  hands. 

"  As  I  live,"  he  declared,  "  this  is  the  first  time  that 
any  money  consideration  has  induced  me  to  break  away 
from  our  principles.  That  Count  von  Hern,  he  had 
powerful  friends  who  were  our  friends,  and  he  gave  me 
the  word,  straight,  that  you  two  had  an  appointment 
down  below  which  was  considerably  overdue.  I  don't 
know,  even  now,  why  I  consented.  I  guess  it  is  n't  much 
use  apologizing." 

Sogrange  rose  to  his  feet. 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    387 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  am  not  inclined  to  bear  malice,  but 
you  must  understand  this  from  me,  Pliilip  Burr.  As  a 
Society,  I  dissolve  you.  I  deprive  you  of  your  title  and 
of  your  signs.  Call  yourself  what  you  will,  but  never  again 
mention  the  name  of  the  '  Double-Four.'  With  us  in 
Europe,  another  era  has  dawned.  We  are  on  the  side  of 
law  and  order.  We  protect  only  criminals  of  a  certain 
class,  in  whose  operations  we  have  faith.  There  is  no 
future  for  such  a  society  in  this  country.  Therefore,  as 
I  say,  I  dissolve  it.  Now,  if  you  are  ready,  perhaps  you 
will  be  so  good  as  to  provide  us  with  the  means  of  reaching 
our  hotel." 

Philip  Burr  led  them  into  a  back  street,  where  his  own 
handsome  automobile  was  placed  at  their  service. 

"  This  kind  of  breaks  me  all  up,"  he  declared,  as 
he  gave  the  instructions  to  the  chauffeur.  "  If  there 
were  two  men  on  the  face  of  this  earth  whom  I  'd  have 
been  proud  to  meet  in  a  friendly  sort  of  way,  it 's  you 
two." 

"  We  bear  no  malice,  Mr.  Burr,"  Sogrange  assured 
him.  "  You  can,  if  you  will  do  us  the  honor,  lunch  with 
us  to-morrow  at  one  o'clock  at  Rector's.  My  friend  here 
is  quite  interested  in  the  Count  von  Hern,  and  he  would 
probably  like  to  hear  exactly  how  this  affair  was  arranged." 

"  I  '11  be  there,  sure,"  Philip  Burr  promised,  with  a 
farewell  wave  of  the  hand. 

Sogrange  and  Peter  drove  back  towards  their  hotel  in 
silence.  It  was  only  when  they  emerged  into  the  civilized 
part  of  the  city  that  Sogrange  began  to  laugh  softly. 

"  My  friend,"  he  murmured,  "  you  bluffed  fairly  well, 
but  you  were  afraid.  Oh,  how  I  smiled  to  see  your  fingers 
close  round  the  butt  of  that  revolver!" 

"  What  about  you.?"  Peter  asked,  gruffly.  "You  don't 
suppose  you  took  me  in,  do  you.'*  " 


388     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Sogrange  smiled. 

"  I  had  two  reasons  for  coming  to  New  York,"  he  said. 
"  One  we  accomphshed  upon  the  steamer.  The  other 
was  —  " 

"Well?" 

"  To  reply  personally  to  this  letter  of  Mr.  Philip  Burr," 
Sogrange  replied,  "  which  letter,  by  the  bye,  was  dated 
from  15,  100th  Street,  New  York.  An  ordinary  visit  there 
would  have  been  useless  to  me.  Something  of  this  sort  was 
necessary." 

"  Then  you  knew !  "  Peter  gasped.  "  Notwithstanding 
all  your  bravado,  you  knew  !  " 

"  I  had  a  very  fair  idea,"  Sogrange  admitted.     "  Don't 
be  annoyed  with  me,  my  friend.     You  have  had  a  little 
experience.     It  is  all  useful.     It  is  n't  the  first  time  you  've 
looked  death  in  the  face.     Adventures  come  to  some  men    I 
unasked.     You,  I  think,  were  born  with  the  habit  of  them." 

Peter  smiled.  They  had  reached  the  hotel  courtyard 
and  he  raised  himself  stiffly. 

"  There  's  a  little  fable  about  the  pitcher  that  went  once 
too  often  to  the  well,"  he  remarked.  "  I  have  had  my 
share  of  luck  —  more  than  my  share.  The  end  must 
come  sometime,  you  know." 

"  Is  this  superstition  ?  "   Sogrange  asked. 

"  Superstition,  pure  and  simple,"  Peter  confessed,  tak- 
ing his  key  from  the  office.  "  It  does  n't  alter  anything. 
I  am  fatalist  enough  to  shrug  my  shoulders  and  move  on. 
But  I  tell  you,  Sogrange,"  he  added,  after  a  moment's 
pause,  "  I  would  n't  admit  it  to  any  one  else  in  the  world, 
but  I  am  afraid  of  Bernadine.  I  have  had  the  best  of 
it  so  often.  It  can't  last.  In  all  we  've  had  twelve 
encounters.     The  next  will  be  the  thirteenth." 

Sogrange  shrugged  his  shoulders  slightly  as  he  rang 
for  the  lift. 


THE    AFFAIR    OF    AN    ALIEN    SOCIETY    389 

"  I  'd  propose  you  for  the  Thirteen  Club,  only  there  's 
some  uncomfortable  clause  about  yearly  suicides  which 
might  not  suit  you,"  he  remarked.  "  Good-night,  and 
don't  dream  of  Bemadine  and  your  thirteenth  encounter." 

"  I  only  hope,"  Peter  murmured,  "  that  I  may  be  in  a 
position  to  dream  after  it." 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER 

The  Marquis  de  Sogrange  arrived  in  Berkeley  Square 
with  the  gray  dawn  of  an  October  morning,  showing  in  his 
appearance  and  dress  few  enough  signs  of  his  night  jour- 
ney. Yet  he  had  traveled  without  stopping  from  Paris,  by 
fast  motor  car  and  the  mail  boat. 

"  They  telephoned  me  from  Charing  Cross,"  Peter  said, 
"  that  you  could  not  possibly  arrive  until  midday.  The 
clerk  assured  me  that  no  train  had  yet  reached  Calais." 

"  They  had  reason  in  what  they  told  you,"  Sogrange 
remarked,  as  he  leaned  back  in  a  chair  and  sipped  the 
coffee  which  had  been  waiting  for  him  in  the  Baron  de 
Grost's  study.  "  The  train  itself  never  got  more  than  a 
mile  away  from  the  Gare  du  Nord.  The  engine-driver 
was  shot  through  the  head  and  the  metals  were  torn  from 
the  way.  Paris  is  within  a  year  now  of  a  second  and  more 
terrible  revolution." 

"You  really  believe  this.''"  Peter  asked,  gravely. 

"  It  is  a  certainty,"  Sogrange  replied.  "  Not  I  alone 
but  many  others  can  see  this  clearly.  Everywhere  the 
Socialists  have  wormed  themselves  into  places  of  trust. 
They  are  to  be  met  with  in  every  rank  of  life,  under  every 
form  of  disguise.  The  post-office  strike  has  already  shown 
us   what   deplorable   disasters   even   a   skirmish   can  bring 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         391 

about.  To-day  the  railway  strike  has  paralyzed  France. 
To-day  our  country  lies  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  any 
invader.  As  it  happens,  none  is,  for  the  moment,  prepared. 
Who  can  tell  how  it  may  be  next  time?  " 

"  This  is  bad  news,"  Peter  declared.  "  If  this  is  really 
the  position  of  affairs,  the  matter  is  much  more  serious 
than  the  newspapers  would  have  us  believe." 

"  The  newspapers,"  Sogrange  muttered,  "  ignore  what 
lies  behind.  Some  of  them,  I  think,  are  paid  to  do  it.  As 
for  the  rest,  our  Press  had  always  an  ostrich-like  tendency. 
The  Frenchman  of  the  cafe  does  not  buy  his  journal  to  be 
made  sad." 

"  You  believe,  then,"  Peter  asked,  "  that  these  strikes 
have  some  definite  tendency  ?  " 

Sogrange  set  down  his  cup  and  smiled  bitterly.  In  the 
early  sunlight,  still  a  little  cold  and  unloving,  Peter  could 
see  that  there  was  a  change  in  the  man.  He  was  no  longer 
the  debonair  aristocrat  of  the  race-courses  and  the  boule- 
vards. The  shadows  under  his  eyes  were  deeper,  his 
cheeks  more  sunken.  He  had  lost  something  of  the  spright- 
liness  of  his  bearing.  His  attitude,  indeed,  was  almost 
dejected.  He  was  like  a  man  who  sees  into  the  future  and 
finds  there  strange  and  gruesome  things. 

"  I  do  more  than  believe  that,"  he  declared.  "  I  know 
it.  It  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  make  a  very  definite  dis- 
covery concerning  them.  Listen,  ni}'  friend.  For  more 
than  six  months  the  government  has  been  trying  to  dis- 
cover the  source  of  this  stream  of  vile  socialistic  literature 
which  has  contaminated  the  French  working  classes.  The 
pamphlets  have  been  distributed  with  devilish  ingenuity 
among  all  national  operatives,  the  army  and  the  navy.  The 
government  has  failed.     The  Double-Four  has  succeeded." 

"You  have  really  discovered  their  source.''"  Peter 
exclaimed. 


392     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Without  a  doubt,"  Sogrange  assented.  "  The  govern- 
ment appealed  to  us  first  some  months  ago  when  I  was  in 
America.  For  a  time  we  had  no  success.  Then  a  clue,  and 
the  rest  was  easy.  The  navy,  the  army,  the  post-office 
employees,  the  telegraph  and  telephone  operators  and  the 
railway  men,  have  been  the  chief  recipients  of  this  incessant 
stream  of  foul  literature.  To-day  one  cannot  tell  how 
much  mischief  has  been  actually  done.  The  strikes  which 
have  already  occurred  are  only  the  mutterings  of  the  com- 
ing storm.  But  mark  you,  wherever  those  pamphlets  have 
gone,  trouble  has  followed.  What  men  may  do  the  gov- 
ernment is  doing,  but  all  the  time  the  poison  is  at  work, 
the  seed  has  been  sown.  Two  millions  of  money  have  been 
spent  to  corrupt  that  very  class  which  should  be  the  back- 
bone of  France.  Through  the  fingers  of  one  man  has 
come  this  shower  of  gold,  one  man  alone  has  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  great  organization  which  has  disseminated  this 
loathsome  disease.     Behind  him  —  well,  we  know." 

"The  man?" 

"  It  is  fitting  that  you  should  ask  that  question," 
Sogrange  replied.  "  The  name  of  that  man  is  Bernadine, 
Count  von  Hern." 

Peter  remained  speechless.  There  was  something  almost 
terrible  in  the  slow  preciseness  with  which  Sogrange  had 
uttered  the  name  of  his  enemy,  something  unspeakably 
threatening  in  the  cold  glitter  of  his  angry  eyes. 

"  Up  to  the  present,"  Sogrange  continued,  "  I  have 
watched  —  sympathetically,  of  course,  but  with  a  certain 
amount  of  amusement  —  the  duel  between  you  and  Berna- 
dine. It  has  been  against  your  country  and  your  coun- 
try's welfare  that  most  of  his  efforts  have  been  directed, 
which  perhaps  accounts  for  tlic  equanimity  with  which  I 
have  been  contented  to  remain  a  looker-on.  It  is  apparent, 
my  dear  Baron,  that  in  most  of  your  encounters  the  honors 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         393 

have  remained  with  you.  Yet,  as  it  has  chanced,  never  once 
has  Bernadine  been  struck  a  real  and  crushing  blow.  The 
time  has  come  when  this  and  more  must  happen.  It  is 
no  longer  a  matter  of  polite  exchanges.  It  is  a  duel  a 
outrance." 

"  You  mean,"  Peter  began  — 

"  I  mean  that  Bernadine  must  die,"  Sogrange  declared. 

There  was  a  brief  silence.  Outside,  the  early  morning 
street  noises  were  increasing  in  volume  as  the  great  army 
of  workers,  streaming  towards  the  heart  of  the  city  from 
a  hundred  suburbs,  passed  on  to  their  tasks.  A  streak 
of  sunshine  had  found  its  way  into  the  room,  lay  across  the 
carpet  and  touched  Sogrange's  still,  waxen  features.  Peter 
glanced  half  fearfully  at  his  friend  and  visitor.  He  him- 
self was  no  coward,  no  shrinker  from  the  great  issues.  He, 
too,  had  dealt  in  life  and  death.  Yet  there  was  something 
in  the  deliberate  preciseness  of  Sogrange's  words,  as  he  sat 
there  only  a  few  feet  away,  unspeakably  thrilling.  It  was 
like  a  death  sentence  pronounced  in  all  solemnity  upon 
some  shivering  criminal.  There  was  something  inevitable 
and  tragical  about  the  whole  affair.  A  pronouncement 
had  been  made  from  which  there  was  no  appeal  — 
Bernadine  was  to  die! 

"  Is  n't  this  a  little  exceeding  the  usual  exercise  of  our 
powers .'' "  Peter  asked,  slowly. 

"  No  such  occasion  as  this  has  ever  yet  arisen,"  So- 
grange reminded  him.  "  Bernadine  has  fled  to  this  coun- 
try with  barely  an  hour  to  spare.  His  offense  is  extra- 
ditable by  a  law  of  the  last  century  which  has  never  been 
repealed.  He  is  guilty  of  treason  against  the  Republic 
of  France.  Yet  they  do  not  want  him  back,  they  do  not 
want  a  trial.  I  have  papers  upon  my  person  which,  if  I 
took  them  into  an  English  court,  would  procure  for  me  a 
warrant  for  Bernadine's  arrest.     It  is  not  tliis  we  desire. 


394    PETER   RUFF   AND   THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Bernadine  must  die.  No  fate  could  be  too  terrible  for  a 
man  who  has  striven  to  corrupt  the  soul  of  a  nation.  It  is 
not  war,  this.  It  is  not  honest  conspiracy.  Is  it  war,  I 
ask  you,  to  seek  to  poison  the  drinking  water  of  an  enemy, 
to  send  stalking  into  their  midst  some  loathsome  disease.'' 
Such  things  belong  to  the  ages  of  barbarity.  Bernadine 
has  striven  to  revive  them  and  Bernadine  shall  die." 

"  It  is  justice,"  Peter  admitted. 

"  The  question  remains,"  Sogrange  continued,  "  by 
whose  hand  —  yours  or  mine  ?  " 

Peter  started  uneasily. 

"Is  that  necessary?"  he  asked. 

"I  fear  that  it  is,"  Sogrange  replied.  "We  had  a 
brief  meeting  of  the  executive  council  last  night,  and  it  was 
decided,  for  certain  reasons,  to  entrust  this  task  into  no 
other  hands.  You  will  smile  when  I  tell  you  that  these 
accursed  pamphlets  have  found  their  way  into  the  pos- 
session of  many  of  the  rank  and  file  of  our  own  order. 
There  is  a  marked  disinclination  on  the  part  of  those  who 
have  been  our  slaves,  to  accept  orders  from  any  one. 
Espionage  we  can  still  command  —  the  best,  perhaps,  in 
Europe  —  because  here  we  use  a  different  class  of  material. 
But  of  those  underneath,  we  are,  for  the  moment,  doubtful. 
Paris  is  all  in  a  ferment.  Under  its  outward  seemliness  a 
million  throats  are  ready  to  take  up  the  brazen  cry  of 
revolution.     One  trusts  nobody.     One  fears  all  the  time." 

"  You  or  I !  "  Peter  repeated,  slowly.  "  It  will  not  be 
sufficient,  then,  that  we  find  Bernadine  and  deliver  him 
over  to  your  country's  laws  ?  " 

"  It  will  not  be  sufficient,"  Sogrange  answered,  sternly. 
"From  those  he  may  escape.  For  him  there  must  be  no 
escape." 

"  Sogrange,"  Peter  said,  speaking  in  a  low  tone,  "  I 
have  never  yet  killed  a  human  being." 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         395 

"  Nor  I,"  Sogrange  admitted.  "  Nor  have  I  yet  set  my 
heel  upon  its  head  and  stamped  the  life  from  a  rat  upon 
the  pavement.  But  one  lives  and  one  moves  on.  Berna- 
dine  is  the  enemy  of  your  country  and  mine.  He  makes 
war  after  the  fashion  of  vermin.  No  ordinary  cut-throat 
would  succeed  against  him.     It  must  be  you  or  I." 

"  How  shall  we  decide.''  "  Peter  asked. 

"  The  spin  of  a  coin,"  Sogrange  replied.  "  It  is  best 
that  way.     It  is  best,  too,  done  quickly." 

Peter  produced  a  sovereign  from  his  pocket  and  bal- 
anced it  on  the  palm  of  his  hand. 

"  Let  it  be  understood,"  Sogrange  continued,  "  that  this 
is  a  dual  undertaking.  We  toss  only  for  the  final  honor 
—  for  the  last  stroke.  If  the  choice  falls  upon  me,  I  shall 
count  upon  you  to  help  me  to  the  end.  If  it  falls  upon 
you,  I  shall  be  at  your  right  hand  even  when  you  strike 
the  blow." 

"  It  is  agreed,"  Peter  said.  "  See,  it  is  for  you  to 
caU." 

He  threw  the  coin  high  into  the  air. 

"  I  call  heads,"  Sogrange  decided. 

It  fell  upon  the  table.  Peter  covered  it  with  his  hand 
and  then  slowly  withdrew  the  fingers.  A  little  shiver  ran 
through  his  veins.  The  harmless  head  that  looked  up  at 
him  was  like  the  figure  of  death.  It  was  for  him  to  strike 
the  blow! 

"Where  is  Bemadine  now.''"  he  asked. 

"  Get  me  a  morning  paper  and  I  will  tell  you,"  So- 
grange declared,  rising.  "  He  was  in  the  train  which  was 
stopped  outside  the  Gare  du  Nord,  on  his  way  to  England. 
What  became  of  the  passengers  I  have  not  heard.  I  knew 
what  was  Hkely  to  happen,  and  I  left  an  hour  before  in 
a  100  H.  P.  Charron" 

Peter  rang  the  bell  and  ordered  the  servant  who  answered 


396     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

it  to  procure  the  Daily  Telegraph.  As  soon  as  it  arrived, 
he  spread  it  open  upon  the  table  and  Sogrange  looked  over 
his  shoulder.  These  are  the  headings  which  they  saw  in 
large  black  characters: 

RENEWED    RIOTS    IN    PARIS 
THE    GARE    DU    NORD    IN    FLAMES 

TERRIBLE      ACCIDENT      TO      THE      CALAIS-DOUVRES      EXPRESS 
MANY    DEATHS 

Peter's  forefinger  traveled  down  the  page  swiftly.  It 
paused  at  the  following  paragraph: 

The  8.55  train  from  the  Gare  du  Nord,  carrying  many  passengers 
for  London,  after  being  detained  within  a  mile  of  Paris  for  over  an 
hour  owing  to  the  murder  of  the  engine-driver,  made  an  attempt 
last  night  to  proceed,  with  terrible  results.  Near  Chantilly,  whilst 
travelling  at  over  fifty  miles  an  hour,  the  switches  were  tampered 
with  and  the  express  dashed  into  a  goods  train  laden  with  minerals. 
Very  few  particulars  are  yet  to  hand,  but  the  express  was  completely 
wrecked  and  many  lives  have  been  lost. 

Among  the  dead  are  the  following: 

One  by  one  Peter  read  out  the  names.  Then  he  stopped 
short.  A  little  exclamation  broke  from  Sogrange's  lips. 
The  thirteenth  name  upon  that  list  of  dead  was  that  of 
Bernadine,  Count  von  Hern. 

"  Bernadine !  "  Peter  faltered.     "  Bernadine  is  dead !  " 

"  Killed  by  the  strikers  !  "  Sogrange  echoed !  "  It  is 
a  just  thing,  this." 

The  two  men  looked  down  at  the  paper  and  then  up  at 
one  another.  A  strange  silence  seemed  to  have  found  its 
way  into  the  room.  The  shadow  of  death  lay  between 
them.     Peter  touched  his  forehead  and  found  it  wet. 

"It  is  a  just  thing,  indeed,"  he  repeated,  "but  justice 
and  death  are  alike  terrible."  .  .   . 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         397 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  a  motor  car, 
splashed  with  mud,  drew  up  before  the  door  of  the  house 
in  Berkeley  Square.  Sogrange,  who  was  standing  talking 
to  Peter  before  the  library  window,  suddenly  broke  off  in 
the  middle  of  a  sentence.  He  stepped  back  into  the  room 
and  gripped  his  friend's  shoulder. 

"  It  is  the  Baroness !  "  he  exclaimed,  quickly.  "  What 
does  she  want  here.''  " 

"The  Baroness  who.?"  Peter  demanded. 

"  The  Baroness  von  Ratten.  You  must  have  heard  of 
her  —  she  is  the  friend  of  Bernadine." 

The  two  men  had  been  out  to  lunch  at  the  Ritz  with 
Violet  and  had  walked  across  the  Park  home.  Sogrange 
had  been  drawing  on  his  gloves  in  the  act  of  starting  out 
for  a  call  at  the  Embassy. 

"Does  your  wife  know  this  woman.'"'  he  asked. 

Peter  shook  his  head. 

"I  think  not,"  he  replied. 

"  Then  she  has  come  to  see  you,"  Sogrange  continued. 
"What  does  it  mean,  I  wonder.'"' 

Peter  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"We  shall  know  in  a  minute." 

There  was  a  knock  at  the  door  and  his  servant  entered, 
bearing  a  card. 

"  This  lady  would  like  to  see  you,  sir,  on  important 
business,"  he  said. 

"You  can  show  her  in  here,"  Peter  directed. 

There  was  a  very  short  delay.  The  two  men  had  no 
time  to  exchange  a  word.  They  heard  the  rustling  of  a 
woman's  gown,  and  immediately  afterwards  the  perfume  of 
violets  seemed  to  fill  the  room. 

"  The  Baroness  von  Ratten  !  "  the  butler  announced. 

The  door  was  closed  behind  her.  The  servant  had  dis- 
appeared.    Peter  advanced  to  meet  his  guest.     She  was  a 


398    PETER   RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

little  above  medium  height,  very  slim,  with  extraordinarily 
fair  hair,  colorless  face,  and  strange  eyes.  She  was  not 
strictly  beautiful  and  yet  there  was  no  man  upon  whom 
her  presence  was  without  its  effect.  Her  voice  was  like 
her  movements,  slow  and  with  a  grace  of  its  own. 

"You  do  not  mind  that  I  have  come  to  see  you?"  she 
asked,  raising  her  eyes  to  Peter's.  "  I  believe  before  I  go 
that  you  will  think  terrible  things  of  me,  but  you  must 
not  begin  before  I  have  told  you  my  errand.  It  has  been 
a  great  struggle  with  me  before  I  made  up  my  mind  to  come 
here." 

"  Won't  you  sit  down.  Baroness  ?  "  Peter  invited. 

She  saw  Sogrange  and  hesitated. 

"  You  are  not  alone,"  she  said,  softly.  "  I  wish  to  speak 
with  you  alone." 

"Permit  me  to  present  to  you  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange," 
Peter  begged.  "  He  is  my  oldest  friend,  Baroness.  I  think 
that  whatever  you  might  have  to  say  to  me  you  might  very 
well  say  before  him." 

"It  is  —  of  a  private  nature,"  she  murmured. 

"  The  Marquis  and  I  have  no  secrets,"  Peter  declared, 
"  either  political  or  private." 

She  sat  down  and  motioned  Peter  to  take  a  place  by 
her  side  upon  the  sofa. 

"  You  will  forgive  me  if  I  am  a  little  incoherent,"  she 
implored.  "  To-day  I  have  had  a  shock.  You,  too,  have 
read  the  news?  You  must  know  that  the  Count  von  Hern 
is  dead  —  killed  in  the  railway  accident  last  night  ?  " 

"We  read  it  in  the  Daily  Telegraph,'^  Peter  replied. 

"It  is  in  all  the  papers,"  she  continued.  "You  know 
that  he  was  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine  ?  " 

"  I  have  heard  so,"  Peter  admitted. 

"Yet  there  was  one  subject,"  she  insisted,  earnestly, 
"  upon  which  we  never  agreed.    He  hated  England.    I  have 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         399 

always  loved  it.  England  was  kind  to  me  when  my  own 
country  drove  me  out.  I  have  always  felt  grateful.  It  has 
been  a  sorrow  to  me  that  in  so  many  of  his  schemes,  in  so 
much  of  his  work,  Bernadine  should  consider  his  own 
country  at  the  expense  of  yours." 

Sogrange  drew  a  little  nearer.  It  began  to  be  interesting, 
this. 

"  I  heard  the  news  early  this  morning  by  telegram,"  she 
went  on.  "  For  a  long  time  I  was  prostrated.  Then  early 
this  afternoon  I  began  to  think  —  one  must  always  think. 
Bernadine  was  a  dear  friend,  but  things  between  us  lately 
have  been  different,  a  little  strained.  Was  it  his  fault  or 
mine  —  who  can  say?  Does  one  tire  with  the  years,  I 
wonder .''    I  wonder !  " 

Her  eyes  were  lifted  to  his  and  Peter  was  conscious  of 
the  fact  that  she  wished  him  to  know  that  they  were 
beautiful.     She  looked  slowly  away  again. 

"  This  afternoon,  as  I  sat  alone,"  she  proceeded,  "  I  re- 
membered that  in  my  keeping  were  many  boxes  of  papers 
and  many  letters  which  have  recently  arrived,  all  belonging 
to  Bernadine.  I  reflected  that  there  were  certainly  some 
who  were  in  his  confidence,  and  that  very  soon  they  would 
come  from  his  country  and  take  them  all  away.  And  then 
I  remembered  what  I  owed  to  England,  and  how  opposed  I 
always  was  to  Bernadine's  schemes,  and  I  thought  that  the 
best  thing  I  could  do  to  show  my  gratitude  would  be  to 
place  his  papers  all  in  the  hands  of  some  Englishman,  so 
that  they  might  do  no  more  harm  to  the  country  which  has 
been  kind  to  me.     So  I  came  to  you." 

Again  her  eyes  were  lifted  to  his  and  Peter  was  very 
sure  indeed  that  they  were  wonderfully  beautiful.  He  began 
to  realize  the  fascination  of  this  woman,  of  whom  he  had 
heard  so  much.  Her  very  absence  of  coloring  was  a 
charm. 


400    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  You  mean  that  you  have  brought  me  these  papers  ?  " 
he  asked. 

She  shook  her  head  slowly. 

"  No,"  she  said,  "  I  could  not  do  that.  There  were  too 
many  of  them  —  they  are  too  heavy,  and  there  are  piles  of 
pamphlets  —  revolutionary  pamphlets,  I  am  afraid  —  all 
in  French,  which  I  do  not  understand.  No,  I  could  not 
bring  them  to  you.  But  I  ordered  my  motor  car  and  I 
drove  up  here  to  tell  you  that  if  you  like  to  come  down  to 
the  house  in  the  country  where  I  have  been  living,  to  wliich 
Bernadine  was  to  have  come  to-night  —  yes,  and  bring  your 
friend,  too,  if  you  will  —  you  shall  look  through  them 
before  any  one  else  can  arrive." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  Peter  murmured.  "  Tell  me 
where  it  is  that  you  live." 

"  It  is  beyond  Hitchin,"  she  told  him,  "  up  the  Great 
North  Road.  I  tell  you  at  once,  it  is  a  horrible  house  in 
a  horrible  lonely  spot.  Within  a  day  or  two  I  shall  leave 
it  myself  forever.  I  hate  it  —  it  gets  on  my  nerves.  I 
dream  of  all  the  terrible  things  which  perhaps  have  taken 
place  there.  Who  can  tell.''  It  was  Bernadine's  long 
before  I  came  to  England." 

"  When  are  we  to  come  ?  "  Peter  asked. 

"  You  must  come  back  with  me  now,  at  once,"  the 
Baroness  insisted.  "  I  cannot  tell  how  soon  some  one  in  his 
confidence   may   arrive." 

"  I  will  order  my  car,"  Peter  declared.  * 

She  laid  her  hand  upon  his  arm. 

"  Do  you  mind  coming  in  mine  ?  "  she  begged.  "  It  is  of 
no  consequence,  if  you  object,  but  every  servant  in  Berna- 
dine's house  is  a  German  and  a  spy.  There  are  no  women 
except  my  own  maid.  Your  car  is  likely  enough  known  to 
them  and  there  might  be  trouble.  If  you  will  come  with 
me  now,  you  and  your  friend,  if  you  like,  I  will  send  you 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         401 

to  the  station  to-night  in  time  to  catch  the  train  home.  I 
feel  that  I  must  have  this  thing  off  my  mind.  You  will 
come  ?    Yes  ?  " 

Peter  rang  the  bell  and  ordered  his  coat. 

"  Without  a  doubt,"  he  answered.  "  May  we  not  offer 
you  some  tea  first?" 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  To-day  I  cannot  think  of  eating  or  drinking,"  she  re- 
plied. "  Bernadine  and  I  were  no  longer  what  we  had  been, 
but  the  shock  of  his  death  seems  none  the  less  terrible.  I 
feel  like  a  traitor  to  him  for  coming  here,  yet  I  believe  that 
I  am  doing  what  is  right,"  she  added,  softly. 

"  If  you  will  excuse  me  for  one  moment,"  Peter  said, 
"  while  I  take  leave  of  my  wife,  I  will  rejoin  you  presently." 

Peter  was  absent  for  only  a  few  minutes.  Sogrange  and 
the  Baroness  exchanged  the  merest  commonplaces.  As 
they  all  passed  down  the  hall,  Sogrange  lingered  behind. 

"  If  you  will  take  the  Baroness  out  to  the  car,"  he  sug- 
gested, "  I  will  telephone  to  the  Embassy  and  tell  them  not 
to  expect  me." 

Peter  offered  his  arm  to  his  companion.  She  seemed, 
indeed,  to  need  support.  Her  fingers  clutched  at  his  coat- 
sleeve  as  they  passed  on  to  the  pavement. 

"  I  am  so  glad  to  be  no  longer  quite  alone,"  she  whis- 
pered. "  Almost  I  wish  that  your  friend  were  not  coming. 
I  know  that  Bernadine  and  you  were  enemies,  but  then 
ymi  were  enemies  not  personally,  but  politically.  After 
all,  it  is  you  who  stand  for  the  things  which  have  become  so 
dear  to  me." 

"  It  is  true  that  Bernadine  and  I  were  bitter  antago- 
nists," Peter  admitted,  gravely.  "  Death,  however,  ends  all 
that.    I  wish  him  no  further  harm." 

She  sighed. 

"  As  for  me,"  she  said,  "  I  am  growing  used  to  being 


402     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

friendless.  I  was  friendless  before  Bernadine  came,  and 
latterly  we  have  been  nothing  to  one  another.  Now,  I  sup- 
pose, I  shall  know  what  it  is  to  be  an  outcast  once  more. 
Did  you  ever  hear  my  history,  I  wonder."^" 

Peter  shook  his  head. 

"  Never,  Baroness,"  he  replied.  "  I  understood,  I 
believe,  that  your  marriage  —  " 

"  My  husband  divorced  me,"  she  confessed,  simply.  "  He 
was  quite  within  his  rights.  He  was  impossible.  I  was 
very  young  and  very  sentimental.  They  say  that  English- 
women are  cold,"  she  added.  "  Perhaps  that  is  so.  People 
think  that  I  look  cold.     Do  you  ?  " 

Sogrange  suddenly  opened  the  door  of  the  car  in  which 
they  were  already  seated.  She  leaned  back  and  half  closed 
her  eyes. 

"  It  is  rather  a  long  ride,"  she  said,  "  and  I  am  worn 
out.  I  hope  you  will  not  mind,  but  for  myself  I  cannot 
talk  when  motoring.     Smoke,  if  it  pleases  you." 

"  Might  one  inquire  as  to  our  exact  destination  ? " 
Sogrange  asked. 

"  We  go  beyond  Hitchin,  up  the  Great  North  Road," 
she  told  him  again.  "  The  house  is  called  the  High  House. 
It  stands  in  the  middle  of  a  heath  and  I  think  it  is  the 
loneliest  and  most  miserable  place  that  was  ever  built.  I 
hate  it  and  I  am  frightened  in  it.  For  some  reason  or 
other,  it  suited  Bernadine,  but  that  is  all  over  now." 

The  little  party  of  three  relapsed  into  silence.  The  car, 
driven  carefully  enough  through  the  busy  streets,  gradu- 
ally increased  its  pace  as  they  drew  clear  of  the  suburbs. 
Peter  leaned  back  in  his  place,  thinking.  Bernadine  was 
dead !  Nothing  else  would  have  convinced  him  so  utterly 
of  the  fact  as  that  simple  sentence  in  the  Daily  Telegraph, 
which  had  been  followed  up  by  a  confirmation  and  a  brief 
obituary    notice    in    all    the    evening    papers.      Curiously 


THE   THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         403 

enough,  the  fact  seemed  to  have  drawn  a  certain  spice  out 
of  even  this  adventure;  to  point,  indeed,  to  a  certain  mo- 
notony in  the  future.  Their  present  enterprise,  important 
though  it  might  turn  out  to  be,  was  nothing  to  be  proud 
of.  A  woman,  greedy  for  gold,  was  selling  her  lover's 
secrets  before  the  breath  was  out  of  his  body.  Peter 
turned  in  his  cushioned  seat  to  look  at  her.  Without  doubt, 
she  was  beautiful  to  one  who  understood,  beautiful  in  a 
strange,  colorless,  feline  fashion,  the  beauty  of  soft  limbs, 
soft  movements,  a  caressing  voice,  with  always  the  promise 
beyond  of  more  than  the  actual  words.  Her  eyes  now  were 
closed,  her  face  was  a  little  weary.  Did  she  really  rest, 
Peter  wondered?  He  watched  the  rising  and  falling  of  her 
bosom,  the  quivering  now  and  then  of  her  eyelids.  She 
had  indeed  the  appearance  of  a  woman  who  had  suifered. 

The  car  rushed  on  into  the  darkness.  Behind  them  lay 
that  restless  phantasmagoria  of  lights  streaming  to  the 
sky.  In  front,  blank  space.  Peter,  through  half-closed 
eyes,  watched  the  woman  by  his  side.  From  the  moment 
of  her  entrance  into  his  library,  he  had  summed  her  up  in 
his  mind  with  a  single  word.  She  was,  beyond  a  doubt, 
an  adventuress.  No  woman  could  have  proposed  the  things 
which  she  had  proposed,  who  was  not  of  that  ilk.  Yet  for 
that  reason  it  behooved  them  to  have  a  care  in  their  deal- 
ings with  her.  At  her  instigation  they  had  set  out  upon  this 
adventure,  which  might  well  turn  out  according  to  any 
fashion  that  she  chose.  Yet  without  Bernadine  what  could 
she  do?  She  was  not  the  woman  to  carry  on  the  work  which 
he  had  left  behind,  for  the  love  of  him.  Her  words  had  been 
frank,  her  action  shameful  but  natural.  Bernadine  was 
dead  and  she  had  realized  quickly  enough  the  best  market 
for  his  secrets.  In  a  few  days'  time  his  friends  would  have 
come  and  she  would  have  received  nothing.  He  told  him- 
self that  he  was  foolish  to  doubt  her.    There  was  not  a  flaw 


404     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

in  the  sequence  of  events,  no  possible  reason  for  the  suspi- 
cions which  yet  lingered  at  the  back  of  his  brain.  Intrigue, 
it  was  certain,  was  to  her  as  the  breath  of  her  body.  He 
was  perfectly  willing  to  believe  that  the  death  of  Bemadine 
would  have  affected  her  little  more  than  the  sweeping  aside 
of  a  fly.  His  very  common  sense  bade  him  accept  her 
story. 

By  degrees  he  became  drowsy.  Suddenly  he  was  startled 
into  a  very  wide-awake  state.  Through  half-closed  eyes 
he  had  seen  Sogrange  draw  a  sheet  of  paper  from  his 
pocket,  a  gold  pencil  from  his  chain,  and  commence  to 
write.  In  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  his  eyes  were  abruptly 
lifted.  He  was  looking  at  the  Baroness.  Peter,  too, 
turned  his  head;  he,  also,  looked  at  the  Baroness.  With- 
out a  doubt,  she  had  been  watching  both  of  them.  So- 
grange's  pencil  continued  its  task,  only  he  traced  no 
more  characters.  Instead,  he  seemed  to  be  sketching  a 
face,  which  presently  he  tore  carefully  up  into  small  pieces 
and  destroyed.  He  did  not  even  glance  towards  Peter, 
but  Peter  understood  very  well  what  had  happened.  He 
had  been  about  to  send  him  a  message,  but  had  found  the 
Baroness  watching.  Peter  was  fully  awake  now.  His 
faint  sense  of  suspicion  had  deepened  into  a  positive  fore- 
boding. He  had  a  reckless  desire  to  stop  the  car,  to 
descend  upon  the  road  and  let  the  secrets  of  Bernadine 
go  where  they  would.  Then  his  natural  love  of  adventure 
blazed  up  once  more.  His  moment  of  weakness  had 
passed.  The  thrill  was  in  his  blood,  his  nerves  were  tight- 
ened. He  was  ready  for  what  might  come,  seemingly 
still  half  asleep,  yet,  indeed,  with  every  sense  of  intuition 
and  observation  keenly  alert. 

Sogrange  leaned  over  from  his  place. 

"  It  is  a  lonely  country,  this,  into  which  we  are  coming, 
madame,"  he  remarked. 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         405 

She  shrugged  her  shoulders. 

"  Indeed,  it  is  not  so  lonely  here  as  you  will  think  it 
when  we  arrive  at  our  destination,"  she  replied.  "  Thei'e 
are  houses  here,  but  they  are  hidden  by  the  trees.  There 
are  no  houses  near  us." 

She  rubbed  the  pane  with  her  hand. 

"  We  are,  I  believe,  very  nearly  there,"  she  said.  "  This 
is  the  nearest  village.  Afterwards,  we  just  climb  a  hill  and 
about  half  a  mile  along  the  top  of  it  is  the  High  House." 

"  And  the  name  of  the  village,"  Sograngc  inquired. 

"  St  Mary's,"  she  told  him.  "  In  the  summer  people 
call  it  beautiful  around  here.  To  me  it  is  the  most  mel- 
ancholy spot  I  ever  saw.  There  is  so  much  rain,  and  one 
hears  the  drip,  drip  in  the  trees  all  the  day  long.  Alone 
I  could  not  bear  it.  To-morrow  or  the  next  day  I  shall 
pack  up  my  belongings  and  come  to  London.  I  am,  un- 
fortunately," she  added,  with  a  little  sigh,  "  very,  very 
poor,  but  it  is  my  hope  that  you  may  find  the  papers,  of 
which  I  have  spoken  to  you,  valuable." 

Sogrange  smiled  faintly.  Peter  and  he  could  scarcely 
forbear  to  exchange  a  single  glance.  The  woman's  candor 
was  almost  binital.     She  read  their  thoughts. 

"  We  ascend  the  hill,"  she  continued.  "  We  draw  now 
very  near  to  the  end  of  our  journey.  There  is  still  one 
thing  I  would  say  to  you.  Do  not  think  too  badly  of  me 
for  what  I  am  about  to  do.  To  Bernadine,  while  he  lived, 
I  was  faithful.  Many  a  time  I  could  have  told  you  of  his 
plans  and  demanded  a  great  sum  of  money,  and  you 
would  have  given  it  me  willingly,  but  my  lips  were  sealed 
because,  in  a  way,  I  loved  him.  While  he  lived  I  gave  him 
what  I  owed.  To-day  he  is  dead,  and,  whatever  I  do,  it 
cannot  concern  him  any  more.  To-day  I  am  a  free  woman 
and  I  take  the  side  I  choose." 

Sogrange  smiled  suavely. 


4o6    PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Dear  madame,"  he  replied,  "  what  you  have  proposed 
to  us  is,  after  all,  quite  natural  and  very  gracious.  If  one 
has  a  fear  at  all  about  the  matter,  it  is  as  to  the  importance 
of  these  documents  you  speak  of.  Bernadine,  I  know,  has 
dealt  in  great  affairs ;  but  he  was  a  diplomat  by  instinct, 
experienced  and  calculating.  One  does  not  keep  incrimi- 
nating papers." 

She  leaned  a  little  forward.  The  car  had  swung  round 
a  corner  now  and  was  making  its  way  up  an  avenue  as 
dark  as  pitch. 

"  The  wisest  of  us.  Monsieur  le  Marquis,"  she  whis- 
pered, "  reckon  sometimes  without  that  one  element  of 
sudden  death.  What  should  you  say,  I  wonder,  to  a  list 
of  agents  in  France  pledged  to  circulate  in  certain  places 
literature  of  an  infamous  sort?  What  should  you  say, 
monsieur,  to  a  copy  of  a  secret  report  of  your  late 
maneuvers,  franked  with  the  name  of  one  of  your  own 
staff  officers.''  What  should  you  say,"  she  went  on,  "  to  a 
list  of  Socialist  deputies  with  amounts  against  their 
name,  amounts  paid  in  hard  cash.''  Are  these  of  no 
importance  to  you.''  " 

"  Madame,"  Sogrange  answered,  simply,  "  for  such  in- 
formation, if  it  were  genuine,  it  would  be  hard  to  mention 
a  price  which  we  should  not  be  prepared  to  pay." 

The  car  came  to  a  sudden  standstill.  The  first  im- 
pression of  the  two  men  was  that  the  Baroness  had  exag- 
gerated the  loneliness  and  desolation  of  the  place.  There 
was  nothing  mysterious  or  forbidding  about  the  plain, 
brownstone  house  before  which  they  had  stopped.  The 
windows  were  streaming  with  light ;  the  hall  door,  already 
thrown  open,  disclosed  a  very  comfortable  hall,  brilliantly 
illuminated.  A  man-servant  assisted  his  mistress  to 
alight,  another  ushered  them  in.  In  the  background  were 
other  servants.     The  Baroness  glanced  at  the  clock. 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         407 

"About  dinner,   Carl?"   she  asked. 

"  It  waits  for  madame,"  the  man  answered. 

She  nodded. 

•'  Take  care  of  these  gentlemen  till  I  descend,"  she 
ordered.  "  You  will  not  mind?  "  she  added,  turning  plead- 
ingly to  Sogrange.  "  To-day  I  have  eaten  nothing.  I 
am  faint  with  hunger.  Afterwards,  it  will  be  a  matter 
but  of  half  an  hour.  You  can  be  in  London  again  by  ten 
o'clock." 

"  As  you  will,  madame,"  Sogrange  replied.  "  We  are 
greatly  indebted  to  you  for  your  hospitality.  But  for 
costume,  you  understand  that  we  are  as  we  are?  " 

"  ][t  is  perfectly  understood,"  she  assured  him.  "  For 
myself,  I  rejoin  you  in  ten  minutes.  A  loose  gown,  that 
is  all." 

Sogrange  and  Peter  were  shown  into  a  modern  bath- 
room by  a  servant  who  was  so  anxious  to  wait  upon  them 
that  they  had  difficulty  in  sending  him  away.  As  soon 
as  he  was  gone  and  the  door  closed  behind  him,  Peter  put 
his  foot  against  it  and  turned  the  key. 

"  You  were  going  to  write  something  to  me  in  the  car?  " 

Sogrange  nodded. 

"  There  was  a  moment,"  he  admitted,  "  when  I  had  a 
suspicion.  It  has  passed.  This  woman  is  no  Roman. 
She  sells  the  secrets  of  Bernadine  as  she  would  sell  herself. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  well  always  to  be  prepared.  There  were 
probably  others  beside  Bernadine  who  had  the  entree 
here." 

"  The  only  suspicious  circumstance  which  I  have 
noticed,"  Peter  remarked,  "  is  the  number  of  men-servants. 
I  have  seen  five  already." 

"  It  is  only  fair  to  remember,"  Sogrange  reminded  him, 
"  that  the  Baroness  herself  told  us  that  there  were  no 
other  save  men-servants  here  and  that  they  were  all  spies. 


4o8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

Without  a  master,  I  cannot  see  that  they  are  dangerous. 
One  needs,  however,  to  watch  all  the  time." 

"  If  you  see  anything  suspicious,"  Peter  said,  "  tap 
the  table  with  your  forefinger.  Personally,  I  will  admit 
that  I  have  had  my  doubts  of  the  Baroness,  but  on  the 
whole  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  ground- 
less. She  is  not  the  sort  of  woman  to  take  up  a  vendetta, 
especially  an  unprofitable  one." 

"  She  is  an  exceedingly  dangerous  person  for  an  im- 
pressionable man  like  myself,"  Sogrange  remarked,  ar- 
ranging his  tie. 

The  butler  fetched  them  in  a  very  few  moments  and 
showed  them  into  a  pleasantly-furnished  library,  where 
he  mixed  cocktails  for  them  from  a  collection  of  bottles 
upon  the  sideboard.  He  was  quite  friendly  and  inclined 
to  be  loquacious,  although  he  spoke  with  a  slight  foreign 
accent.  The  house  belonged  to  an  English  gentleman 
from  whom  the  honored  Count  had  taken  it,  furnished. 
They  were  two  miles  from  a  station  and  a  mile  from 
the  village.  It  was  a  lonely  part,  but  there  were  always 
people  coming  or  going.  With  one's  work  one  scarcely 
noticed  it.  He  was  gratified  that  the  gentlemen  found  his 
cocktails  so  excellent.  Perhaps  he  might  be  permitted 
the  high  honor  of  mixing  them  another.''  It  was  a  day, 
this,  of  deep  sadness  and  gloom.  One  needed  to  drink 
something,  indeed,  to  forget  the  terrible  thing  which  had 
happened.  The  Count  had  been  a  good  master,  a  little 
impatient  sometimes,  but  kind-hearted.  The  news  had 
been  a  shock  to  them  all. 

Then,  before  they  had  expected  her,  the  Baroness  re- 
appeared. She  wore  a  wonderful  gray  gown  which  seemed 
to  be  made  in  a  single  piece,  a  gown  which  fitted  her 
tightly,  and  yet  gave  her  the  curious  appearance  of  a 
woman  walking  without  the  burden  of  clothes.     Sogrange, 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         409 

Parisian  to  the  finger-tips,  watched  her  with  admiring 
approval.  She  laid  her  fingers  upon  his  arm,  although 
it  was  towards  Peter  that  her  eyes  traveled. 

"  Will  you  take  me  in,  Marquis  ^  "  she  begged.  "  It 
is  the  only   formality  we  will  allow  ourselves." 

They  entered  a  long,  low  dining-room,  paneled  with 
oak,  and  with  the  family  portraits  of  the  owner  of  the 
house  still  left  upon  the  wall.  Dinner  was  served  upon 
a  round  table  and  was  laid  for  four.  There  was  a  pro- 
fusion of  silver,  very  beautiful  glass,  and  a  wonderful 
cluster  of  orchids.  The  Marquis,  as  he  handed  his  hostess 
to  her  chair,  glanced  towards  the  vacant  place. 

"  It  is  for  my  companion,  an  Austrian  lady,"  she  ex- 
plained. "  To-night,  however,  I  think  that  she  will  not 
come.  She  was  a  distant  connection  of  Bernadine's  and 
she  is  much  upset.  We  leave  her  place  and  see.  You 
will  sit  on  my  other  side,  Baron." 

The  fingers  which  touched  Peter's  arm  brushed  his  hand, 
and  were  withdrawn  as  though  with  reluctance.  She  sank 
into  her  chair  with  a  little  sigh. 

"  It  is  charming  of  you  two,  this,"  she  declared,  softly. 
"  You  help  me  through  this  night  of  solitude  and  sadness. 
What  I  should  do  if  I  were  alone,  I  cannot  tell.  You 
must  drink  with  me  a  toast,  if  you  will.  Will  you  make 
it  to  our  better  acquaintance.''  " 

No  soup  had  been  offered  and  champagne  was  served 
with  the  hors  d'aeuvre.  Peter  raised  his  glass  and  looked 
into  the  eyes  of  the  woman  who  was  leaning  so  closely 
towards  him  that  her  soft  breath  fell  upon  his  cheek. 
She  whispered  something  in  his  ear.  For  a  moment, 
perhaps,  he  was  carried  away,  but  for  a  moment  only. 
Then  Sogrange's  voice  and  the  beat  of  his  forefinger 
upon  the  table  stiffened  him  into  sudden  alertness.  They 
heard  a  motor  car  draw  up  outside. 


410     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Who  can  it  be? "  the  Baroness  exclaimed,  setting 
her  glass  down  abruptly. 

"  It  is,  perhaps,  our  fourth  guest  who  arrives,"  So- 
grange  remarked. 

They  all  three  listened,  Peter  and  Sogrange  with  their 
glasses  still  suspended  in  the  air. 

"Our  fourth  guest.?"  the  Baroness  repeated.  "Ma- 
dame von  Estenier  is  upstairs,  lying  down.  I  cannot 
tell  who   this   may   be." 

Her  lips  were  parted.  The  lines  of  her  forehead  had 
suddenly  appeared.  Her  eyes  were  turned  toward  the 
door,  hard  and  bright.  Then  the  glass  which  she  had 
nervously  picked  up  again  and  was  holding  between  her 
fingers,  fell  on  to  the  tablecloth  with  a  little  crash,  and 
the  yellow  wine  ran  bubbling  on  to  her  plate.  Her  scream 
echoed  to  the  roof  and  rang  through  the  room.  It  was 
Bemadine  who  stood  there  in  the  doorway,  Bernadine 
in  a  long  traveling  ulster  and  the  air  of  one  newly  arrived 
from  a  journey.  They  all  three  looked  at  him,  but  there 
was  not  one  who  spoke.  The  Baroness,  after  her  one 
wild  cry,  was  dumb. 

"  I  am  indeed  fortunate,"  Bernadine  said.  "  You  have 
as  yet,  I  see,  scarcely  commenced.  You  probably  expected 
me.  I  am  charmed  to  find  so  agreeable  a  party  awaiting 
my  arrival." 

Pie  divested  himself  of  his  ulster  and  threw  it  across 
the   arm  of  the  butler,  who  stood  behind  him. 

"  Come,"  he  continued;  "  for  a  man  who  has  just  been 
killed  in  a  railway  accident,  I  find  myself  with  an  appe- 
tite. A  glass  of  wine,  Carl.  I  do  not  know  what  that 
toast  was,  the  drinking  of  which  my  coming  interrupted, 
but  let  us  all  drink  it  together.  Aimee,  my  love  to  you, 
dear.  Let  me  congratulate  you  upon  the  fortitude  and 
courage  with  which  you  ignored  those  lying  reports   of 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         411 

my  death.  I  had  fears  that  I  might  find  you  alone  in 
a  darkened  room,  with  tear-stained  eyes  and  sal  volatile 
by  your  side.  This  is  infinitely  better.  Gentlemen,  you 
are  welcome." 

Sogrange  lifted  his  glass  and  bowed  courteously.  Peter 
followed  suit. 

"  Really,"  Sogrange  murmured,  "  the  Press  nowadays 
becomes  more  unreliable  every  day.  It  is  apparent,  my 
dear  Von  Hern,  that  this  account  of  your  death  was,  to 
say  the  least  of  it,  exaggerated." 

Peter  said  nothing.  His  eyes  were  fixed  upon  the 
Baroness.  She  sat  in  her  chair  quite  motionless,  but 
her  face  had  become  like  the  face  of  some  graven  image. 
She  looked  at  Bernadine,  but  her  eyes  said  nothing.  Every 
glint  of  expression  seemed  to  have  left  her  features. 
Since  that  one  wild  shriek  she  had  remained  voiceless. 
Encompassed  by  danger  though  he  knew  they  now  must 
be,  Peter  found  himself  possessed  by  one  thought  only. 
Was  this  a  trap  into  which  they  had  fallen,  or  was  the 
woman,  too,  deceived? 

"  You  bring  later  news  from  Paris  than  I  myself," 
Sogrange  proceeded,  helping  himself  to  one  of  the  dishes 
which  a  footman  was  passing  round.  "  How  did  you 
reach  the  coast?  The  evening  papers  stated  distinctly 
that  since  the  accident  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  run 
trains." 

"  By  motor  car  from  Chantilly,"  Bernadine  replied. 
"  I  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  servant,  who  was 
wearing  my  coat,  and  who,  I  gather  from  the  newspaper 
reports,  was  mistaken  for  me.  I  myself  was  unhurt.  I 
hired  a  motor  car  and  drove  to  Boulogne  —  not  the  best 
of  journeys,  let  me  tell  you,  for  we  broke  down  three 
times.  There  was  no  steamer  there,  but  I  hired  a  fishing 
boat,  which  brought  me  across  the  Channel  in  something 


412     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

under  eight  hours.  From  the  coast  I  motored  direct  here. 
I  was  so  anxious,"  he  added,  raising  his  eyes,  "  to  see 
how  my  dear  friend  —  my  dear  Aimee  —  was  bearing  the 
terrible  news." 

She  fluttered  for  a  moment  like  a  bird  in  a  trap. 
Peter  drew  a  little  sigh  of  relief.  His  self-respect  was 
reinstated.  He  had  decided  that  she  was  innocent.  Upon 
them,  at  least,  would  not  fall  the  ignominy  of  having 
been  led  into  the  simplest  of  traps  by  this  white-faced 
Delilah.  The  butler  had  brought  her  another  glass, 
which  she  raised  to  her  lips.  She  drained  its  contents, 
but  the  ghastliness  of  her  appearance  remained  unchanged. 
Peter,  watching  her,  knew  the  signs.  She  was  sick  with 
terror. 

"  The  conditions  throughout  France  are  indeed  awful," 
Sogrange  remarked.  "  They  say,  too,  that  this  railway 
strike  is   only  the  beginning  of  worse  things." 

Bernadine  smiled. 

"  Your  country,  dear  Marquis,"  he  said,  "  is  on  its 
last  legs.  No  one  knows  better  than  I  that  it  is,  at  the 
present  moment,  honeycombed  with  sedition  and  anarchical 
impulses.  The  people  are  rotten.  For  years  the  whole 
tone  of  France  has  been  decadent.  Its  fall  must  even 
now  be  close  at  hand." 

"  You  take  a  gloomy  view  of  my  country's  future," 
Sogrange  declared. 

"  Why  should  one  refuse  to  face  facts  ? "  Bernadine 
replied.  "  One  does  not  often  talk  so  frankly,  but  we 
three  are  met  together  this  evening  under  somewhat  pe- 
culiar circumstances.  The  days  of  the  glory  of  France 
are  past.  England  has  laid  out  her  neck  for  the  yoke 
of  the  conqueror.  Both  are  doomed  to  fall.  Both  are 
ripe  for  the  great  humiliation.  You  two  gentlemen  whom 
I  have  the  honor  to  receive  as  my  guests,"  he  concluded. 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         413 

filling  his  glass  and  bowing  towards  them,  "  in  your  pres- 
ent unfortunate  predicament  represent  precisely  the 
position  of  your  two  countries." 

"  Ave  CcEsar!  "  Peter  muttered  grimly,  raising  his  glass 
to  his  lips. 

Bemadine  accepted  the  challenge. 

"  It  is  not  I,  alas !  who  may  call  myself  Csesar,"  he 
replied,  "  although  it  is  certainly  you  who  are  about 
to  die." 

Sogrange  turned  to  the  man  who  stood  behind  his 
chair. 

"  If  I  might  trouble  you  for  a  little  dry  toast?  "  he 
inquired.  "  A  modern  but  very  uncomfortable  ailment," 
he  added,  with  a  sigh.  "  One's  digestion  must  march  with 
the  years,  I   suppose." 

Bernadine  smiled. 

"  Your  toast  you  shall  have,  with  pleasure,  IMarquis," 
lie  said,  "  but  as  for  your  indigestion,  do  not  let  that 
trouble  you  any  longer.  I  think  that  I  can  promise  you 
immunity  from  that  annoying  complaint  for  the  rest  of 
your  life." 

"  You  are  doing  your  best,"  Peter  declared,  leaning 
back  in  his  chair,  "  to  take  away  my  appetite." 

Bernadine  looked  searchingly  from  one  to  the  other 
of  his  two  guests. 

"  Yes,"  he  admitted,  "  you  are  brave  men.  I  do  not 
know  why  I  should  ever  have  doubted  it.  Your  pose 
is  excellent.  I  have  no  wish,  however,  to  see  you  buoyed 
up  by  a  baseless  optimism.  A  somewhat  remarkable  chance 
has  delivered  you  into  my  hands.  You  are  my  prisoners. 
You,  Peter,  Baron  de  Grost,  I  have  hated  all  my  days. 
You  have  stood  between  me  and  the  achievement  of  some 
of  my  most  dearly-cherished  tasks.  Always  I  have  said 
to  myself  that  the  day  of  reckoning  must  come.     It  has 


414    PETER  RUFF  AND  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR 

arrived.  As  for  you,  Marquis  de  Sogrange,  if  my  per- 
sonal feelings  towards  you  are  less  violent,  you  still  rep- 
resent the  things  absolutely  inimical  to  me  and  my  in- 
terests. The  departure  of  you  two  men  was  the  one 
thing  necessary  for  the  successful  completion  of  certain 
tasks  which  I  have  in  hand  at  the  present  moment." 

Peter  pushed  away  his  plate. 

"  You  have  succeeded  in  destroying  my  appetite,  Count," 
he  declared.  "  Now  that  you  have  gone  so  far  in  ex- 
pounding your  amiable  resolutions  towards  us,  perhaps 
you  will  go  a  little  further  and  explain  exactly  how,  in 
this  eminently  respectable  house,  situated,  I  understand, 
in  an  eminently  respectable  neighborhood,  with  a  police 
station  within  a  mile,  and  a  dozen  or  so  witnesses  as  to 
our  present  whereabouts,  you  intend  to  expedite  our 
removal?  " 

Bernadine  pointed  toward  the  woman  who  sat  facing 
him. 

"  Ask  the  Baroness  how  these  things  are  arranged." 

They  turned  towards  her.  She  fell  back  in  her  chair 
with  a  little  gasp.  She  had  fainted.  Bernadine  shrugged 
his  shoulders.  The  butler  and  one  of  the  footmen,  who 
during  the  whole  of  the  conversation  had  stolidly  pro- 
ceeded with  their  duties,  in  obedience  to  a  gesture  from 
their  master  took  her  up  in  their  arms  and  carried  her 
from  the  room. 

"  The  fear  has  come  to  her,  too,"  Bernadine  murmured, 
softly.  "  It  may  come  to  you,  my  brave  friends,  before 
morning." 

"  It  is  possible,"  Peter  answered,  his  hand  stealing 
around  to  his  hip  pocket,  "  but  in  the  meantime,  what 
is  to   prevent  —  " 

The  hip  pocket  was  empty.  Peter's  sentence  ended 
abruptly.     Bernadine  mocked  him. 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         415 

"  To  prevent  your  shooting  me  in  cold  blood,  I  suppose," 
he  remarked.  "  Nothing  except  that  my  servants  are  too 
clever.  No  one  save  myself  is  allowed  to  remain  under 
this  roof  with  arms  in  their  possession.  Your  pocket  was 
probably  picked  before  you  had  been  in  the  place  five 
minutes.  No,  my  dear  Baron,  let  me  assure  you  that 
escape  will  not  be  so  easy!  You  were  always  just  a  little 
inclined  to  be  led  away  by  the  fair  sex.  The  best  men 
in  the  world,  you  know,  have  shared  that  failing,  and 
the  Baroness,  alone  and  unprotected,  had  her  attrac- 
tions, eh?  " 

Then  something  happened  to  Peter  which  had  happened 
to  him  barely  a  dozen  times  in  his  life.  He  lost  his 
temper  and  lost  it  rather  badly.*  Without  an  instant's 
hesitation,  he  caught  up  the  decanter  which  stood  by  his 
side  and  flung  it  in  his  host's  face.  Bernadine  only  partly 
avoided  it  by  thrusting  out  his  arms.  The  neck  caught 
his  forehead  and  the  blood  came  streaming  over  his  tie 
and  collar.  Peter  had  followed  the  decanter  with  a  sudden 
spring.  His  fingers  were  upon  Bernadine's  throat  and  he 
thrust  his  head  back.  Sogrange  sprang  to  the  door  to 
lock  it,  but  he  was  too  late.  The  room  seemed  full  of 
men-servants.  Peter  was  dragged  away,  still  struggling 
fiercely. 

"  Tie  them  up ! "  Bernadine  gasped,  swaying  in  his 
chair.  "  Tie  them  up,  do  you  hear.''  Carl,  give  me 
brandy." 

He  swallowed  half  a  wineglassful  of  the  raw  spirit. 
His  eyes  were  red  with  fury. 

"  Take  them  to  the  gun  room,"  he  ordered,  "  three  of 
you  to  each  of  them,  mind.  I  '11  shoot  the  man  who  lets 
either  escape." 

But  Peter  and  Sogrange  were  both  of  them  too  wise 
to  expend  any  more  of  their  strength  in  a  useless  struggle. 


4i6     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

They  suffered  themselves  to  be  conducted  without  re- 
sistance across  the  white  stone  hall,  down  a  long  passage, 
and  into  a  room  at  the  end,  the  window  and  fireplace  of 
which  were  both  blocked  up.  The  floor  was  of  red  flags 
and  the  walls  whitewashed.  The  only  furniture  was  a 
couple  of  kitchen  chairs  and  a  long  table.  The  door 
was  of  stout  oak  and  fitted  with  a  double  lock.  The 
sole  outlet,  so  far  as  they  could  see,  was  a  small  round 
hole  at  the  top  of  the  roof.  The  door  was  locked  behind 
them.     They  were  alone. 

"  The  odd  trick  to  Bernadine ! "  Peter  exclaimed 
hoarsely,  wiping  a  spot  of  blood  from  his  forehead.  "  My 
dear  Marquis,  I  scarcely  know  how  to  apologize.  It  is 
not  often  that  I  lose  my  temper  so  completely." 

"  The  matter  seems  to  be  of  very  little  consequence," 
Sogrange  answered.  "  This  was  probably  our  intended 
destination  in  any  case.  Seems  to  be  rather  an  unfor- 
tunate expedition  of  ours,  I  am  afraid." 

"  One  cannot  reckon  upon  men  coming  back  from  the 
dead,"  Peter  declared.  "  It  is  n't  often  that  you  find 
every  morning  and  every  evening  paper  mistaken.  As 
for  the  woman,  I  believe  in  her.  She  honestly  meant  to 
sell  us  those  papers  of  Bernadine's.  I  believe  that  she, 
too,  will  have  to  face  a  day  of  reckoning." 

Sogrange  strolled  around  the  room,  subjecting  it  every- 
where to  a  close  scrutiny.  The  result  was  hopeless.  There 
was  no  method  of  escape  save  through  the  door. 

"  There  is  certainly  something  strange  about  this  apart- 
ment," Peter  remarked.  "  It  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
unusual  to  have  windows  in  the  roof  and  a  door  of  such 
proportions.  All  the  same,  I  think  that  those  threats 
of  Bernadine's  were  a  little  strained.  One  cannot  get 
rid  of  one's  enemies,  nowadays,  in  the  old-fashioned,  melo- 
dramatic wa3\     Bernadine  must  know  quite  well  that  you 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         417 

and  I  are  not  the  sort  of  men  to  walk  into  a  trap  of 
any  one's  setting,  just  as  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  is  not 
the  man  to  risk  even  a  scandal  by  breaking  the  law 
openly." 

"  You  interest  me,"  Sogrange  said.  "  I  begin  to  sus- 
pect that  y6u,  too,  have  made  some  plans." 

"  But  naturally,"  Peter  replied.  "  Once  before  Berna- 
dine  set  a  trap  for  me  and  he  nearly  had  a  chance  of 
fending  me  for  a  swim  in  the  Thames.  Since  then  one 
takes  precautions  as  a  matter  of  course.  We  were  fol- 
lowed down  here,  and  by  this  time  I  should  imagine  that 
the  alarm  is  given.  If  all  was  well,  I  was  to  have  tele- 
phoned an  hour   ago." 

"  You  are  really,"  Sogrange  declared,  "  quite  an  agree- 
able companion,  my  dear  Baron.  You  think  of  every- 
thing." 

The  door  was  suddenly  opened.  Bernadine  stood  upon 
the  threshold  and  behind  him  several  of  the  servants. 

"  You  will  oblige  me  by  stepping  back  into  the  study, 
my  friends,"  he  ordered. 

"With  great  pleasure,"  Sogrange  answered,  with  alac- 
rity. "We  have  no  fancy  for  this  room,  I  can  assure 
you." 

Once  more  they  crossed  the  stone  hall  and  entered  the 
room  into  which  they  had  first  been  shown.  On  the  thresh- 
old, Peter  stopped  short  and  listened.  It  seemed  to  him 
that  from  somewhere  upstairs  he  could  hear  the  sound 
of  a  woman's  sobs.     He  turned  to  Bernadine. 

"  The  Baroness  is  not  unwell,  I  trust?  "  he  asked. 

"  The  Baroness  is  as  well  as  she  is  likely  to  be  for 
some  time,"  Bernadine  replied,  grimly. 

They  were  all  in  the  study  now.  Upon  a  table  stood 
a  telephone  instrument.  Bernadine  drew  a  small  revolver 
from  his  pocket. 


4i8     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  Baron  de  Grost,"  he  said,  "  I  find  that  you  are  not 
quite  such  a  fool  as  I  thought  you.  Some  one  is  ringing 
up  for  you  on  the  telephone.  You  will  reply  that  you 
are  well  and  safe  and  that  you  will  be  home  as  soon  as 
your  business  here  is  finished.  Your  wife  is  at  the  other 
end.  If  you  breathe  a  single  word  to  her  of  your  ap- 
proaching end,  she  shall  hear  through  the  telephone  the 
sound  of  the  revolver  shot  that  sends  you  to  Hell." 

"  Dear  me,"  Peter  protested,  "  I  find  this  most  unpleas- 
ant. If  you  will  excuse  me,  I  don't  think  I  '11  answer  the 
call  at  all." 

"  You  will  answer  it  as  I  have  directed,"  Bemadine 
insisted.  "  Only  remember  this  —  if  you  speak  a  single 
ill-advised  word,  the  end  will  be  as  I  have  said." 

Peter  picked  up  the  receiver  and  held  it  to  his  ear. 

"Who  is  there?"  he  asked. 

It  was  Violet  whose  voice  he  heard.  He  listened  for  a 
moment  to  her  anxious  flood  of  questions. 

"  There  is  not  the  slightest  cause  to  be  alarmed,  dear," 
he  said.  "  Yes,  I  am  down  at  the  High  House,  near  St. 
Mary's.  Bernadine  is  here.  It  seems  that  those  reports  of 
his  death  were  absolutely  unfounded.  .  .  .  Danger.''  Un- 
protected? Why,  my  dear  Violet,  you  know  how  careful 
I  always  am.  Simply  because  Bernadine  used  once  to 
live  here,  and  because  the  Baroness  was  his  friend,  I  spoke 
to  Sir  John  Dory  over  the  telephone  before  we  left,  and 
an  escort  of  half-a-dozen  police  followed  us.  They  are 
about  the  place  now,  I  have  no  doubt,  but  their  presence 
is  quite  unnecessary.  I  shall  be  home  before  long,  dear. 
.  .  .  Yes,  perhaps  it  would  be  as  well  to  send  the  car 
down.  Any  one  will  direct  him  to  the  house  —  the  High 
House,  St.  Mary's,  remember.     Good-by  !  " 

Peter  replaced  the  receiver  and  turned  slowly  round. 
Bernadine  was  smiling. 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         419 

"  You  did  well  to  reassure  your  wife,  even  though  it 
was  a  pack  of  lies  you  told  her,"  he  remarked. 

Peter  shrugged  his  shoulders  contemptuously. 

"  My  dear  Bernadine,"  he  said,  "  up  till  now  I  have 
tried  to  take  you  seriously.  You  are  really  passing  the 
limit.  I  must  positively  ask  you  to  reflect  a  little.  Do 
men  who  live  the  life  that  you  and  I  live,  trust  any  one? 
Am  I  —  is  the  Marquis  de  Sogrange  here  —  after  a  life- 
time of  experience,  likely  to  leave  the  safety  of  our  homes 
in  company  with  a  lady  of  whom  we  knew  nothing  except 
that  she  was  your  companion,  without  precautions.''  I 
do  you  the  justice  to  believe  you  a  person  of  common- 
sense.  I  know  that  we  are  as  safe  in  this  house  as  we 
should  be  in  our  own.  War  cannot  be  made  in  this 
fashion  in  an  over-policed  country  like  England." 

"  Do  not  be  too  sure,"  Bernadine  replied.  "  There  are 
secrets  about  this  house  which  have  not  yet  been  disclosed 
to  you.  There  are  means,  my  dear  Baron,  of  transporting 
you  into  a  world  where  you  are  likely  to  do  much  less 
harm  than  here,  means  ready  at  hand,  and  which  would 
leave  no  more  trace  behind  than  those  crumbling  ashes 
can  tell  of  the  coal  mine  from  which  they  came." 

Peter  preserved  his  attitude  of  bland  incredulity. 

"  Listen,"  he  said,  drawing  a  whistle  from  his  pocket, 
"  it  is  just  possible  that  you  are  in  earnest.  I  will  bet 
you,  then,  if  you  like,  a  hundred  pounds,  that  if  I 
blow  this  whistle  you  will  either  have  to  open  your  door 
within  five  minutes  or  find  your  house  invaded  by  the 
police." 

No  one  spoke  for  several  moments.  The  veins  were 
standing  out  upon  Bernadine's  forehead. 

"  We  have  had  enough  of  this  folly,"  he  cried.  "  If 
you  refuse  to  realize  your  position,  so  much  the  worse 
for  you.     Blow  your  whistle,  if  you  will.     I  am  content." 


420  PETER  RUFF  AND  THE  DOUBLE-FOUR 

Peter  waited  for  no  second  bidding.  He  raised  the 
whistle  to  his  lips  and  blew  it,  loudly  and  persistently. 
Again  there  was  silence.     Bernadine  mocked  him. 

"  Try  once  more,  dear  Baron,"  he  advised.  "  Your 
friends  are  perhaps  a  little  hard  of  hearing.  Try  once 
more,  and  when  you  have  finished,  you  and  I  and  the 
Marquis  de  Sogrange  will  find  our  way  once  more  to 
the  gun  room  and  conclude  that  trifling  matter  of  business 
which  brought  you  here." 

Again  Peter  blew  his  whistle  and  again  the  silence  was 
broken  only  by  Bernadine's  laugh.  Suddenly,  however, 
that  laugh  was  checked.  Every  one  had  turned  toward 
the  door,  listening.  A  bell  was  ringing  throughout  the 
house. 

"  It  is  the  front  door !  "  one  of  the  servants  exclaimed. 

No  one  moved.  As  though  to  put  the  matter  beyond 
doubt,  there  was  a  steady  knocking  to  be  heard  from  the 
same  direction. 

"  It  is  a  telegram  or  some  late  caller,"  Bernadine  de- 
clared, hoarsely.  "  Answer  it,  Carl.  If  any  one  would 
speak  with  the  Baroness,  she  is  indisposed  and  unable  to 
receive.     If  any  one  desires  me,  I  am  here." 

The  man  left  the  room.  They  heard  him  withdraw  the 
chain  from  the  door.  Bernadine  wiped  the  sweat  from 
his  forehead  as  he  listened.  He  still  gripped  the  revolver 
in  his  hand.  Peter  had  changed  his  position  a  little  and 
was  standing  now  behind  a  high-backed  chair.  They 
heard  the  door  creak  open,  a  voice  outside,  and  presently 
the  tramp  of  heavy  footsteps.  Peter  nodded  understand- 
ingly. 

"  It  is  exactly  as  I  told  you,"  he  said.  "  You  were 
wise  not  to  bet,  my   friend." 

Again  the  tramp  of  feet  in  the  hall.  There  was  some- 
thing unmistakable  about  the  sound,  something  final  and 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         421 

terrifying.  Bernadine  saw  his  triumph  slipping  away. 
Once  more  this  man  who  had  defied  him  so  persistently, 
was  to  taste  the  sweets  of  victory.  With  a  roar  of  fury 
he  sprang  across  the  room.  He  fired  his  revolver  twice 
before  Sogrange,  with  a  terrible  blow,  knocked  his  arm 
upwards  and  sent  the  weapon  spinning  to  the  ceiling. 
Peter  struck  his  assailant  in  the  mouth,  but  the  blow 
seemed  scarcely  to  check  him.  They  rolled  on  the  floor 
together,  their  arms  around  one  another's  necks.  It  was 
an  affair,  that,  but  of  a  moment.  Peter,  as  lithe  as  a 
cat,  was  on  his  feet  again  almost  at  once,  with  a  torn 
collar  and  an  ugly  mark  on  his  face.  There  were  strangers 
in  the  room  now  and  the  servants  had  mostly  slipped  away 
during  the  confusion.  It  was  Sir  John  Dory  himself  who 
locked  the  door.  Bernadine  struggled  slowly  to  his  feet. 
He  was  face  to  face  with  half  a  dozen  police  constables  in 
plain  clothes. 

"You  have  a  charge  against  this  man,  Baron  .'^  "  the 
police  commissioner  asked. 

Peter  shook  his  head. 

"  The  quarrel  between  us,"  he  replied,  "  is  not  for  the 
police  courts,  although  I  will  confess.  Sir  John,  that  your 
intervention  was  opportune." 

"  I,  on  the  other  hand,"  Sogrange  put  in,  "  demand 
the  arrest  of  the  Count  von  Hern  and  the  seizure  of  all 
papers  in  this  house.  I  am  the  bearer  of  an  autograph 
letter  from  the  President  of  France  in  connection  with  this 
matter.  The  Count  von  Hem  has  committed  extraditable 
offenses  against  my  country.  I  am  prepared  to  swear  an 
information   to   that  effect." 

The  police  commissioner  turned  to  Peter. 

"Your  friend's  name?  "  he  demanded. 

"  The  Marquis  de  Sogrange,"  Peter  told  him. 

*'  He  is  a  person  of  authority?  " 


422     PETER    RUFF   AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOUR 

"  To  my  certain  knowledge,"  Peter  replied,  "  he  has 
the  implicit  confidence  of  the  French  Government." 

Sir  John  Dory  made  a  sign.  In  another  moment  Ber- 
nadine  would  have  been  arrested.  It  seemed,  indeed,  as 
though  nothing  could  save  him  now  from  this  crowning 
humiliation.  He  himself,  white  and  furious,  was  at  a  loss 
xi  w  to  deal  with  an  unexpected  situation.  Suddenly  a 
...ing  happened  stranger  than  any  one  of  them  there  had 
ever  dreamed  of,  so  strange  that  even  men  such  as  Peter, 
Sogrange  and  Dory,  whose  nerves  were  of  iron,  faced 
one  another,  doubting  and  amazed.  The  floor  beneath 
them  rocked  and  billowed  like  the  waves  of  a  canvas  sea. 
The  windows  were  filled  with  flashes  of  red  light,  a  great 
fissure  parted  the  wall,  the  pictures  and  book-cases  came 
crashing  down  beneath  a  shower  of  masonry.  It  was  the 
affair  of  a  second.  Above  them  shone  the  stars  and  around 
them  a  noise  like  thunder.  Bernadine,  who  alone  under- 
stood, was  the  first  to  recover  himself.  He  stood  in  the 
midst  of  them,  his  hands  above  his  head,  laughing  as  he 
looked  around  at  the  strange  storm,  laughing  like  a  mad- 
man. 

"  The  wonderful  Carl,"  he  cried.  "  Oh,  matchless  ser- 
vant. Arrest  me  now,  if  you  will,  you  dogs  of  the  police. 
Rout  out  my  secrets,  dear  Baron  de  Grost.  Tuck  them 
under  your  arm  and  hurry  to  Downing  Street.  This  is 
the  hospitality  of  the  High  House,  my  friends.  It  loves 
you  so  well  that  only  your  ashes  shall  leave  it." 

His  mouth  was  open  for  another  sentence  when  he 
was  struck.  A  whole  pillar  of  marble  from  one  of  the 
rooms  above  came  crashing  through  and  buried  him  under- 
neath a  falling  shower  of  masonry.  Peter  escaped  by  a 
few  inches.  Those  who  were  left  unhurt  sprang  through 
the  yawning  wall  out  into  the  garden.  Sir  John,  So- 
grange and  Peter,  three  of  the  men  —  one  limping  badly, 


THE    THIRTEENTH    ENCOUNTER         423 

came  to  a  standstill  in  the  middle  of  the  lawn.  Before 
them,  the  house  was  crumbling  like  a  pack  of  cards,  and 
louder  even  than  the  thunder  of  the  falling  structure  was 
the  roar  of  the  red  flames.  ^ 

"The  Baroness!"  Peter  cried,  and  took  one  leap  for.-,- 
ward.  ,  d 

"  I  am  here,"  she  sobbed,  running  to  them  from  oiit^ 
of  the  shadows.  "I  have  lost  everything  —  my  jeweLuif 
my  clothes,  all  except  what  I  have  on.  They  gave  me  ^ 
but  a  moment's  warning." 

"Is  there  any  one  else  in  the  house?"  Peter  demanded. 

"  No  one  but  you  who  were  in  that  room,"  she  answered. 

"  Your  companion !  " 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  There  was  no  companion,"  she  faltered.  "  I  thought 
it  sounded  better  to  speak  of  her.  I  had  her  place  laid 
at  table,  but  she  never  even  existed." 

Peter  tore  off  his  coat. 

"  There  are  the  others  in  the  room ! "  he  exclaimed. 
"We  must  go  back." 

Sogrange  caught  him  by  the  shoulder  and  pointed  to 
a  shadowy  group  some  distance  away. 

"  We  are  all  out  but  Bemadine,"  he  said.  "  For  him 
there  is  no  hope.     Quick !  " 

They  sprang  back  only  just  in  time.  The  outside  wall 
of  the  house  fell  with  a  terrible  crash.  The  room  which 
they  had  quitted  was  blotted  now  out  of  existence.  From 
right  and  left,  in  all  directions  along  the  country  road, 
came  the  flashing  of  lights  and  little  knots  of  hurrying 
people. 

"  It  is  the  end !  "  Peter  muttered.  "  Yesterday  I  should 
have  regretted  the  passing  of  a  brave  enemy.  To-day 
I  hail  with  joy  the  death  of  a  brute." 

The  Baroness,  who  had  been  sitting  upon  a  garden  seat, 


424     PETER    RUFF    AND    THE    DOUBLE-FOU 

sobbing,  came  softly  up  to  them.      She  laid  her  fing 
upon  Peter's  arm  imploringly. 

"  You  will  not  leave  me  friendless  ?  "  she  begged.     "  '] 
papers   I  promised  you  are  destroyed,  but  many   of 
secrets   are  here." 

She  tapped  her  forehead. 

"  Madame,"  Peter  answered,  "  I  have  no  wish  to  ki 
them.  Years  ago  I  swore  that  the  passing  of  Bernat 
should  mark  my  own  retirement  from  the  world  in  wl 
we  both  lived.  I  shall  keep  my  word.  To-night  Bei 
dine  is  dead.     To-night,  Sogrange,  my  work  is  finished. 

The  Baroness  began  to  sob  again. 

"  And  I  thought  that  you  were  a  man,"  she  moai 
"  so  gallant,  so  honorable  —  " 

"  Madame,"  Sogrange  intervened,  "  I  shall  comn 
you  to  the  pension  list  of  the  Double-Four." 

She  dried  her  eyes. 

"  It  is  not  money  only  I  want,"  she  whispered,  her 
following  Peter. 

Sogrange  shook  his  head. 

"You  have  never  seen  the  Baroness  de  Grost.'* ' 
asked  her. 

"  But  no !  " 

"  Ah !  "    Sogrange   murmured.  ..."  Our   escort, 
dame,  is  at  your  sendee  —  as  far  as  London." 


THE     END 


'; 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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